You should be aShaned
by Phantom-Cosplayer
Summary: One of the girls Shane might have given his spare key to if the world hadn't ended. Rick and Lori hire the quirky Australian girl from their little town to babysit their son Carl and when the world goes under they find themselves running into the fiery immigrant with no way home to her family and an unknown connection to the Sheriff Deputy Shane Walsh. All characters included.
1. Disclaimer

**Disclaimer and initial authors note**

So I've been binge watching old seasons of the walking dead and I've decided that I'm going to give writing a fanfiction for the show a good old college try. There will be some jumping in between the current apocalypse and the past in the first few chapters to set things up but I won't do too much as it is a zombie story.

The girl in this picture is model Kayla Davion. She is the best representation I could find of what I had in my head for the character I created. The photographer for her photo is Phelan Davion and the person responsible for creating this cover image is Lorna Middleton.

I do not own the Walking Dead or any of it's characters featured in this story I do however own this story and my own characters.


	2. Introduction

The virus was spreading quicker than I'd expected. I couldn't listen to the radio broadcasting the same message over and over again so I turned it off, which made the screams echoing around me even louder. Three weeks ago I was out on the town, having fun just like everyone else. I was meeting guys and I was waking up the next morning not remembering most of it. Two weeks ago I was excited about being put on the payroll at work instead of being a day laborer. Last week I was planning a camping trip. Two days ago I was babysitting and eating microwaveable lasagna out of the box.

It's almost amazing just how quickly the world turned to shit. Currently I'd locked myself in the car and was crouched under the dashboard in front of the seat with a map, trying to figure out what I hell I was doing. Even though the authorities had said to head to Atlanta, that we'd be safe I couldn't believe it. That many people together is a bad idea. Just one person has to be infected and we'd be overrun. I struggled out of my hiding spot, wiggling free from the pedals that had dug into my skin.

I'd have to go somewhere. And soon. It wouldn't be long before the dead would take over and there would be no way out. I checked the back of the car one last time and made sure I was still carrying everything I could could get my hands on. I'd probably packed some non essential items in the mad dash to fill up and move on but they weren't taking up too much space so I wasn't worried.

Strapping myself in I turned the key in the ignition and pulled away from the curb, wheels crushing the gravel beneath them. There wasn't much happening on the outskirts of King county but I could still hear the terror. I knew as soon as I headed back towards the center of town that it would be chaos, I'd see things no one should have to see and that I'd be in mortal danger until I figured out where the fuck I was going.

I decided I'd go to the police station and try to find Shane. Maybe he wouldn't be interested in seeing me, I know I'm still mad at him for what happened but the fault was also mine. And the end of the world has a funny way of bringing us back together. I only had a half tank of gas so before I did anything I'd have to refill. There was two empty jerry cans on the backseat which would need to be filled as well. I didn't have many guns on my possession but you could be damned sure that when I stepped out of my jeep I was packing heat.

Tucked into the back of my pants and concealed by my red jacket I had a Smith & Weston M&P with spare magazines tucked into my pockets. Under my jacket I was sporting a brown leather harness and holster for my Ruger 22/45 that I'd learned to shoot with when I'd first moved over to America.

I jumped from the jeep, shut my door quietly and grabbed my jerry cans, slipping round to the side of the car that the pump was on. I filled up the cans and tucked them back into the car before locking the doors and filling my gas tank. I looked left and right like I was crossing the road and hurried into the store. I was actually surprised the cashier was not only working in this chaos but still had the automatic doors turned on. I stepped inside the building and I heard the familiar _'bing'._ I looked over to the counter where the cashier should be stood and saw that his skull had been impaled on a pen.  
"Oh, he's dead." I commented out loud. "Guess I won't be paying for my gas then." I sighed, scratching the back of my neck with my free hand. A guy behind the counter who was going through the till laughed while I fingered the baseball bat in my other hand.  
"You should get yourself out of here while you still can princess." Another man spoke to me, making me jump a little.  
"I plan to." I replied, grabbing some more bottled water and some dental hygiene products and running back to my black jeep. I looked left and right again before dropping to the ground beside my car to check nothing and no one were under it.

Once I knew it was clear I unlocked the car and jumped back in. I locked myself in and did a headcheck before driving do to the county police station. It was a long shot but I knew for a fact that I could not do this alone.


	3. Yesterday before the world ended

**_Get it? Because Tomorrow when the War began? Okay so maybe it wasn't that funny._**

* * *

I was woken up by 'Lonely no more' by Rob Thomas blaring through my bedroom. I groaned and rolled over, holding my forehead. It was true, I didn't want to be lonely anymore however that didn't mean my radio had the right to just blare my life's theme tune through my home first thing in the morning. I smacked the clock on my bedside table and sat up, holding my head. I probably should have inhaled as many beers as I did last night. Yeah that's right, inhaled. I opened my mouth and suddenly I was already through my first 6 pack.

I dragged my tired body from my bed and grabbed my phone from it's charger and started checking Facebook. I went into the bathroom and dropped a berry Berocca into a glass of water and waited for the round tablet to dissolve. I almost had a heart attack when I'd found out America didn't have Australia's favorite hangover cure. I'm not sure that's what you're supposed to use them for but we do. Every couple of months I get a care package from my parents overseas which usually contains Berocca Performance and herbal tea recipes. It wasn't unusual for me to be pouring out a cup of something weird and wonderful or adding spices to my coffees. Starbucks had nothing on me man, I reckon I've got one up on their green tea.

I walked into the kitchen clutching my now red and fizzy glass and turning on my coffee grinder. I sliced open a bagel and popped it in the toaster but didn't push the button down. If there was one supposed hangover cure I swore to it was the greasy breakfast. In fact I clung to the idea that bacon could make everything better, even if that wasn't strictly true. I stuck some slices of streaky bacon -something I'd had to get used to- into the frying pan with some butter and oil. I went through to the bathroom and washed my face in order to wake me up some more before returning to my coffee maker. I added the ground coffee and cinnamon powder to the group handle and slotted it into the machine. I pressed the button after adding my sugar to the mug and pouring some milk into the metal jug. I stuck the jug under the froth-er and groaned as the screeching noise of the steam nozzle upset my headache.

I made my froth and poured it into my coffee mug, stirring it and putting it to the side as I sipped my glorified soda water. I cracked some eggs into the pan and pushed the button for my bagel down. I finished off my Berocca and put the glass in the sink, feeling a lot better already. I took some Tylenol anyway to speed things up a bit.

* * *

A little after breakfast I showered and got ready for work. This was my first shift on the payroll and I was pretty excited. It was pretty uncommon to find females in the construction industry out here and even less common to find one on the payroll. I tossed my tools kit and my tool belt in the backseat of my Jeep Wrangler and headed off to work for the morning. It was pretty hot out these days so we were usually working from 6am to about 3pm. Which worked perfectly for me with all the baby sitting I did on the side.

"Hey Addie." One of the older construction workers, Tom, called as I hopped out of my jeep.  
"Hey Tom!" I waved at him affectionately. I tied up my tool belt around my waist and tucked my open button down into it. It was still loose though so I could still move around easily. I patted my side to make sure my gun was safely holstered by my breast and then carried my toolbox onto the site.

Mike the site manager handed me a hardhat and sent me off on my first task of the day, laying the flooring on the second story. I rolled up my shirt sleeves to keep me cool and yawned a little. The hangover seemed to have subsided however I was still a little tired. During my lunch break one of my older customers, Lori, called me and asked if I could please pick up her son Carl up from school today. She said she'd call the school next to let them know it was okay and there was a spare key under the mat.

I was allowed by the site manager to leave early because he didn't want me to be late to picking up the deputy's kid. I just rolled my eyes, Rick was a nice guy and he wouldn't mind if I picked up his son as the bell was ringing instead of arriving before hand. Sometimes he'd come home at dinnertime with his friend from the sheriff's department. I couldn't help but notice that he was a rather attractive bloke and I wouldn't have minded getting to know him better.

* * *

I walked up to the school gates and stood where I knew the little tyke could see me and waited for the bell to dismiss everyone. Suddenly the doors to the main building burst open and a hoard of middle-schoolers spilled out into the playground. I waved over to him when he was looking my way, ignoring the gossiping voices of the mothers behind me.

"There she is again." They said.  
"When will she have kids of her own?"  
"Isn't she a little old to be baby sitting?"  
"Doesn't she have another job?"  
"Anne said she works with her husband at the construction site."

 _'Fucking vultures.'_ I thought and then turned my attention back to the little boy in front of me. He'd seen me waving and screamed out to me.  
"Addie!" He called out to me and started running down towards the gates with his arms wide. He wrapped his arms around my waist when he reached me and tucked his head in close.  
"Hey there little bug. Ya miss me?" I asked ruffling his hair.  
"Uh huh!" He replied skipping beside me to the jeep parked at the side of the curb.  
"Can I sit in the front today?" He looked at me with pleading eyes.  
"Are you 13 yet?" I asked.  
"No." he replied putting his head down and shuffling his feet.  
"Then no."

I opened the back back door on the opposite side to the drivers seat and pulled my tool kit and belt, opening up the trunk and putting them in the back. I helped him up into the seat and made sure he was strapped in before shutting the door. Carl was pretty well behaved but that didn't mean I was taking the child lock off the back doors.  
"Addie it's hot out." Carl whined.  
It's true, it was hot out today. It was about 103 degrees out today and the air conditioning in the car wasn't exactly the best. I scratched the back of my head and knew exactly what to do. It was about time for a snack after all. There was a drive in theater where all the teenagers go that opened every night at 5 but in front of that was a little van in front of it that opened at 2:30. I started driving the opposite way from his house and he started questioning.

"Where are we going?" He asked noticing we got closer and closer to the center of town.  
"Well it's hot out today, so it's way to hot to make our homework snacks ourselves." I replied.  
I drove out to the kiosk and made sure there was a table clear. I knew Lori wouldn't mid what I fed Carl so long as he wasn't bouncing off the walls when she got home. But the condition was he had to have his homework done before dinner. Carl put his bag down next to out table and ran up to the menu board. He was hopping from foot to foot trying to decide what to eat.

"What can I get?" he asked me when I stood beside him.  
"Whatever you want kiddo." I replied, walking back to my jeep and reaching into the glove box. I picked up a stick of roll on sunblock and started rolling on Carl while he divvied up his time between making a fuss about the sunblock and decided on what to stuff his face with.  
"Can I get a hot dog?" He asked looking at me.  
"Sure," I replied. I had told him he could have anything her wanted. "What do you want on it?" he eventually settled on ketchup, mustard and bacon pieces. I got some fries for the table and got myself a burger and onion rings. He hopped happily over to the table and got out his homework, beginning to work.

I saw him furiously scribbling down his answers and erasing his mistakes trying to get it all done before his food was ready. I smiled at him and wondered what my future kids would be like. I shook my head and collected our snacks, taking them over to the table.  
"Need some help squirt?" I asked watching as he chewed on his lip thoughtfully.  
He nodded and pushed the book over to me and started munching on his hot dog. I read over the problem in his book and tried to see where he'd gone wrong. Fractions, man's worst enemy.  
"Fractions, something you'll actually use in real life." I commented. I moved my chair over beside him and put down my onion rings. "So," I started putting pencil on paper and beginning to explain to him how to work the problem out.

* * *

"Can we get Slurpee-s?" Carl asked as we drove past a 7/11 in town on the way back home.  
"I guess so." I sighed internally pulling into a parking spot out front. I walked him into the store and grabbed two small cups and let him fill his own. I put the straws in and then took them up to the counter watching Carl eye all the candy. After paying for them we went back to the car and I was watching his tongue and lips turn blue as he chatted away happily.

I pulled up to his house and got the key out from under the mat as he trotted along beside me. I unlocked the door and returned the key sitting in the lounge room letting Carl flick through the cartoons. Shortly after, just before they usually had their dinner, Lori returned carrying groceries and looking rushed off her feet.

"Hey are you alright?" I asked walking into the kitchen and helping her put away her shopping.  
"Yeah I'm fine, just a bit tired is all, hun." She replied.  
"Why don't you go sit down and have a rest while I finish up here." I watched her fill up a glass of sweat tea from the fridge and nod, walking away to go and join Carl. I put all the groceries in their appropriate places and threw away the paper bags, making sure to hide the Slurpee cups.  
When I was done I made my excuses and got ready to leave, Lorie got out her purse and paid me for the hours I'd looked after him. The amount she gave me covered the food I'd bought and there was some left over to go into me jar.  
I had a jar on top of the fridge where I kept all the money I'd been saving for various reasons. Just as I was leaving I saw Rick pull up into the driveway and slide out of the squad car.

"Hey Addison." He greeted with a smile and a wave.  
"Hey Rick, how ya been?" I returned, slipping my hands into my shorts pockets.  
"Pretty good, got out early today. How's work been treating you?" He questioned to which I jumped with a grin.  
"Awesome, they put me on the payroll finally so I'm working full time."  
"That's fantastic." He smiled walking closer to his porch. "Well I'll see ya next time around."  
"Have a good one." I replied, opening the door to my jeep and pulling away from the house.


	4. How far we've come

**How Far We've Come** **  
Not going to lie, I based this chapter on the lyrics for the song, How Far We've Come by Matchbox 20**

* * *

Remain calm. Help is on the way."

I woke up to a robotic voice blaring through my bedroom instead of my usual classic hits radio station. I was still groggy from the night before and it took me a minute to fully grasp what was happening. I seemed to have missed the start of the broadcast and I was even more confused

"This is a civil emergency. Please do not venture outside of your homes. Avoid anyone infected at all costs. Remain calm. Help is on the way."  
 _'Infected? What's happening?'_ I thought, panicking.

"The Emergency Alert System has been activated. The Office of Civil Defense has issued the following message: Normal broadcasting will cease immediately. This is a civil emergency. Please do not venture outside of your homes. Avoid anyone infected at all costs. Remain calm. Help is on the way."

The radio was playing the same message over again, emergency broadcast on repeat. I slammed down the off button on my alarm clock and rushed to the living room where I switched on the TV. There was a substantial part of me that believed this was all a hoax. It could have been a practical joke or what happened with War of the Worlds by HG Wells. On the news I was seeing reports of people attacking other people and tearing off their skin. They were eating flesh like fucking zombies or teenagers on bath salts. Screams echoed throughout the living room and I saw reporters barricading themselves inside the recording studio. I flipped stations and saw more terror and vile, infected people ripping apart innocent civilians.

The reports urged people to stay inside and arm yourself, keep your family and loved ones safe from the virus. I slid down to the floor, crying now, in shock and terrified for the state of the world. Keep your family safe. I was miles from mine and I could only pray that David was actually doing his fucking job and looking after our son. I wonder what all this means, what my life means and who would notice if I was gone. Who would notice if I was infected.

I stood up and slowly walked to the window. Outside I saw the neighbors packing their things hurriedly into their cars, keeping their children locked safely inside the backseats. I saw others driving down the more crowded than usual streets. This time of the morning there was usually no one outside and barely any traffic. I feel like a failure. What kind of mother am I? I should have fought harder for him, never let him leave my sight. Maybe I shouldn't have left David. Then I'd be with my boy. I began to wonder what he ever saw in me, wondered why my son even loved me.

I turned suddenly when I heard frantic banging on my door, I heard someone screaming for me to let them in. I ran over to the door and started to unlock it. And then I stopped. _'What if this woman was infected?'_ I heard her screams get louder and her banging on the door more. I looked through the peephole of the door and saw bloodied men and women charging at her. Giving up on my door she started running again and managed to get passed them.

I breathed deeply and put the chain back on the door and deadlocked it. I ran back to my bedroom and splashed my face with water, trying to remain calm. I went to grab my clothes and in my panicked state I climbed into the shower, running the water and trying to get it hot. I was running my hands through my hair when I realized what I was doing. Now was not the time to shower. I washed out the shampoo in my hair and then dried off. I threw on some dark jeans and a wife beater. Haha, what irony. I pulled on my gun harness and holster, checking the chamber and magazine. I tucked my Smith and Weston into the waistband of my jeans and then tugged on my red jacket to cover my arms. I pulled on some old combat boots and some leather finger-less gloves to protect my palms. It was nearly ten o'clock in the morning now, I had no idea I spent so much time in front of the television. I looked at the TV screen and started to tear up. This new threat on the world terrified me, but have me a sense of determination. This wasn't going to beat me, I was going to get my son.

In reality he and David didn't live that far from me, still on this side of town. I grabbed my keys and phone, and the baseball bat I'd gotten from my grandfather the first time I moved out on my own. I shut and locked the door behind me and ran quickly down to the bottom floor of my apartment building. When I got outside the area around the resident's cars was crawling with the infected and I began to run, run far from there and headed for my old home.

I had run nearly four blocks before I realized no one was following me. But that wasn't reason to slow down. I had to get to them, even if I had to spend the apocalypse with David, getting my son was worth it. I kept running towards the street where we used to live hoping for a miracle. I had to stop for a moment to catch my breath, I lent down on my knees, panting.

I heard a growl behind me and started running again. I looked behind me and it was chasing me, and running quite fast for someone who was dead. I stopped running and it kept coming at me, still moving quickly. I readied myself, with my elbow out and the bat up at my shoulder I swung. The infected monster ran straight into the bat and flew back in the air, landing on the ground with a crack. I swung again and hit the un-moving corpse with full thrust. I jabbed the bat into it's face until the brain was exposed. I gasped in shock and stumbled back away from the body. Shaking the blood and skull off my bat I started running again, getting close to the old place.

I ran straight up the driveway and banged on the door. I didn't see Dave's car outside but he may have moved it to the garage. I banged on the door again and searched for the key. The spare wasn't under the mat where it used to be and there wasn't one in the fuse box either. I jiggled the lock and realized I couldn't get it open that way. I stood back a moment and then lunched forward, kicking just right of the handle. I kicked again and again until the door burst open and I called out.

"John?! JOHN!" I cried, running through the house to his room. I checked and his schoolbag was gone, the drawers were open and his clothing was missing. "David are you here? David?" I called out, distressed. In my old room all his things were gone as well. I went into the kitchen and found a note on the counter next to a gun.  
'Addie, I've taken John. I got him to pack his things when I found out this morning. We've packed up and we're running. If you find this, take the gun. The next step they'll take is issuing safe zones and refugee areas. Most likely Atlanta. Don't go to Atlanta, it's not safe. Stay away from highly populated areas. Keep yourself safe and get out of town. I hope you make it and I want you to know I really did love you.' I let out a strangled cry, choking as it left my throat. I hated that man, but he'd gotten my son out, even if I'd never see him again.

I put the note down and looked at the shotgun on the counter. He'd left me a box of shells and a gun. He knew I'd come here and tried to protect me even though we'd split up. I've always thought he was an asshole, even when I was dating him. After we were married things got ugly and I was angry with him but I'm not sure he was all I'd demonized him to be. He never laid a hand on his son and he left me a gun. Maybe he really did love me. Still couldn't forgive him though. I folded the note and put it in my pocket.  
The cupboards had been cleaned out of all cans, dry food and the powdered and long-life milk. There was no bottled water left either. The fruit bowl was empty but it could have been like that since before doomsday. I looked at the fridge door, all the color letter magnets were still there, as were the photos and John's drawings. There was one picture missing though, the one of me holding John as a baby. But I'm sure David took that down after I left him and tried to run with John. It seems people were always running off with my son.

I ran into the bedroom again and pried up some of the floorboards, pulling out David's handgun. I hid this years ago in case he ever used it on me. After weeks of him looking for it and tearing the house apart he just bought a new one. It still had sever magazines with it and it's leather holster. I clipped it on to my harness and grabbed a bag to throw the magazines and shells into. I headed into the garage grabbing the metal baseball bat that was left on the workbench along with a box of nails and several hammers, stuffing them in the bag.

I took one last look at the fridge before I left and snatched off one of the drawings. I ran to the open front door that would be attracting attention soon and picked up the wooden bat which was still where I'd left it; resting by the coat rack. I held tightly to the bat in my hand and the bag over my shoulder and started running again.  
It didn't take long before I was back at my apartment building, the swarm of infected no longer present. I managed to get to my car and I jumped in, locking myself inside. I drove up over the pavement to my apartment block and reversed inside the automatic doors, parking in the lobby. I jumped out and locked the doors again, running up the stairs to my floor. Now my son was out I needed to get out too, start working on keeping me safe.

I ran into my bedroom and threw the sheets off the bed, placing them in the laundry. I must have been still partially in shock as I started packing the mattress topper and quilt into their original packaging that I hadn't gotten around to throwing out yet. I put fresh cases on my pillows and packed them too, fresh sheets and quilt cover included. I pulled out a suitcase from under the bed, beginning to pack clothing. I emptied my underwear drawer on the bed beside me and threw in two weeks worth of bras and panties. I grabbed jeans, shorts, tank tops and t-shirts. I stuffed in button downs and some pajamas, sweatpants and sweaters along with some jackets. Although it was hot out that didn't mean winter wouldn't come. I had to grab extra shoes and stuffed in some boots and sneakers. I was almost moving into a different room before I stopped and cried out.  
"Socks!" I yelled rushing back into the room to pack some. I next ran into the bathroom to pack the first aid kit and my toiletries. I already had one in the jeep along with the camping supplies for the trip I'd been planning. Wasn't going anywhere now, was I? Well, actually I was because I couldn't stay here. I started cramming food into a large plastic box I'd found. All the tins I owned along with the dry food and bottled water was stuffed inside. I went to the bag with all my weapons and pulled out the box of nails and a hammer, putting nails into my wooden bat, making it into a spiky club.

I breathed deeply. Now this was done I'd have to venture outside. The world was hell and I wished I could stay here but there was nothing for me. My apartment wasn't exactly in ship shape to protect myself from the rest of the world either. I shoved all my things to the front door. I checked I had everything, made sure I wasn't going to forget anything and looked towards the door again. With shaking hands I reached out for the nob and cautiously opened the door.  
A figure lunged for me and I screamed. "Shit!" I spat. I'd forgotten to check the peephole before opening the door. It was the same girl I'd seen earlier, running from the infected. I felt a little guilty for not letting her in before, but I couldn't risk it. For all I knew she was already infected when she was banging on the door.

Not that the guilt stopped me from beating her skull in with my spiky bat. She tackled me to the ground when she barged through the door. She must have been attracted to my door by the banging noise I made making my club. I held her throat while she was snapping at me, trying to get a taste of my delicious flesh. I wrapped my legs around her thighs and shoved her up, rolling us over. I pinned her to the ground by her shoulders as she still tried to bite at me. I punched her in the face hard enough to leave her dazed in order for me to scramble to my feet and grab my bat, that had gotten thrown out of the way.  
I swung down to hit her but she lunge towards me again and I missed. I stepped backwards and swung at her again, hitting her in the face this time and hearing a crunch but when I pulled the bat back she wasn't dead.

"Damn it." I breathed, hitting her again and again. "Hurry up and die already."  
Eventually I was able to knock her brains out, literally, and head out with the first lot of my stuff. I made it down the stairs and was able to put my things in the trunk before I encountered my next infected. It was the old security guard who did a terrible job at keeping the place looked after. Still a nice guy though. I swung my bat at him and he flew backwards, knocking over another one with his lifeless corpse. I swung my bat down on that one, crushing it's skull. I had to get out of here.


	5. Meetings in a bar

**Chapter 3 - Meetings in a bar**

After a long day of both construction work and babysitting I returned to my apartment and slumped down in one of the chairs at the dinner table. I lent back in my chair and put a hand on my forehead. I sighed and then stood up after a long moment of just sitting in my chair. I went into the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove with 2/3 of a litre water, lighting the burner and I began putting spices in the cast iron pot. I broke up a cinnamon quill and sprinkled it in the water before going to the mortar and pestle and beating the ever living shit out of 12 cardamon pods. Next I put in two tablespoons of ginger, 1 star anise, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 4 black teabags. While my tea was boiling I put 1/2 a litre of milk in the microwave to heat that up at the same time. When the kettle screamed at me from the stove I strained the liquid and mixed the milk with the tea. I poured myself a cup and saved the rest for later. I'd cool it and then put it in the fridge to drink later.  
I was about ready for my day to be over but I also wanted to have some fun. I needed to be around people. Once I'd finished my tea I put my baby sitting money in the jar I kept on top of my fridge, screwing the lid back on tightly. I stopped by the end table by my bedroom door and picked up the framed photo, looking at the brown haired boy affectionately. I held it close to my chest and breathed deeply.

"I'll be back with you soon baby." I put the photo down and set it back in it's original position.

I headed to the bathroom for a quick shower as today was hot and warranted a secondary, afternoon shower. I got changed into a casual blue & white dress and put on some fresh makeup. I pulled on some grey cowboy boots and put my phone, keys and wallet into a grey leather bag with a long strap. I slipped in a bottle of water and grabbed a small snack as I went out the door. I was headed to a bar down in town where all the young and loose went. It wasn't a long walk from my house and if I was going to drink I didn't want to drive my car down and have to leave it there.

I didn't get far before I ran into an old 'friend'. David was the last person on this earth that I wanted to see. "What do you want?" I practically snarled.

"Going out are we? Or did you dress up all nice just for me baby doll?" He chuckled darkly.

"It's none of your business. Leave me alone. You've caused me enough grief to last a lifetime." I was done taking crap from this asshole.

"You wanna talk about grief? You should have known not to do what you did. You shouldn't have left me, you brought this upon yourself." I leaned in real close as he said this, breathing huskily in my face.

" **No** Dave, I didn't. You can't walk around treating people the way you do. What _you_ did to me was wrong and leaving you was the best decision I ever made." I told him.

"I'll be sure to tell that to John." Dave replied with a laugh.

"You won't have to. It's only a matter of time before I take him back from you. Celebrate you winnings now because soon I'm going to knock you off your throne." I moved to walk past him when he grabbed my arms.

"You think you can talk to me like that? You can threaten me and just walk away?" He growled, digging his fingers in deep, holding tightly to the flesh of my upper arms.

"Let go of me." I ordered. My head snapped to the side and my cheek stung as he swung his open palm at my face. He hit my jaw with the heel of his hand and I let out a pained cry. "You don't get to bully me anymore!" I screamed bringing my knee up and slamming it up into his crotch.

He let me go and I ran down the flight of stairs keeping me from the ground floor of my apartment building. I ran out the building's main doors and down the street. I ran for a good 5-10 minutes before I slowed down. Maybe if it was anyone else I wouldn't have stopped. I'm a tough woman and I'd git back for as long as necessary but today, with Dave, I just have to run. I lent on my knees, panting and catching my breath. I was only panting from the shock, as I was used to running for longer periods of time without getting tired. Regaining myself and realizing I was not followed I stood up straight and calmly walked to the bar, continuing with my agenda for the evening and not letting David spoil things again.

* * *

I stalked into the bar and sat down at the counter, ordering a scotch. I needed to settle myself before I could really have fun and relax. I was nursing my second beer by the time my night got interesting. I felt the seat beside me be taken and turned my head to look at it's occupant. I noticed it was Rick's friend.

"My my officer, you wouldn't be drinking on duty would you?" I teased, grinning at him.

"Wouldn't dream of it ma'am." He replied, returning my smile with one of his own. "I actually finished my shift not long ago."

"Then what brings you here then, huh?" I asked, crossing my ankles as they hung from my stool above the ground.

"Aren't we just full of questions." He commented. "Isn't that my job?"

"Well go on then." I smiled, leaning in a little closer on the bar so my face was nearer to his.

"How about you tell me why you're here?" He suggested.

"Well that's easy. I'm just a girl looking for a good time." I smiled. "Anything else?"

"Aw come on, you gotta give me more than that." He replied. "Hey," he said more seriously.

Shane gently reached up his hand to touch the underside of my jaw and turn my face to the side. He examined the red hand print that was sure to bruise and looked at me with sympathy. "How'd you get this?" he prodded.

"Wrong place at the wrong time?" I shrugged, hoping he'd accept it and move on.

"Bull crap." He responded. I probably should have known better. Plus, lying to a cop is illegal. I sighed. "I had a run in with someone that I used to know. I'd really rather forget about it if I'm honest with you. I'm at this bar to forget my troubles."

"Sorry." He commented. "That's going to be a real bitch tomorrow by the way."

"Don't even get me started." I sighed with a smile. I stretched and I swear he saw the prints on my arms but he chose not to say anything. A few drinks later we were still talking and we had moved to a booth near the back. My legs were crossed under the table and I felt his brush against mine. My knees touched the tips of his and I sat comfortable with the small amounts of gentle physical contact. When the usual crowd thinned out and the music quietened down I found myself over at the duke box flicking through songs while Shane got the next round. He came over brushing against me as he set down my beer on the ledge next to me. I decided on what song I was going to put on and smiled.

"This was my favorite song when I was younger, I'm not too sure why." I commented as the intro Safe and Sound by Capital cities started to play.

"It's a cute song. Everyone wants to feel safe and sound." Shane replied.

"I'm not a fan now, not really. I think I've changed too much. People change. Boy do I know that." I sighed.

"So are you ever going to tell me how you got those hand prints." Maybe calling them hand prints made me feel a little better, I was used to calling them bruises and not wanting to talk about how they got there. I opened my mouth to speak and then sighed.

"Baby I know that you think loose lips sink ships but you can't go around covering this up. Every time you just take it he gets away with it." Shane ran his thumb over my knuckles.

"I'm not with him anymore." I sighed. "I didn't want to be one of those news stories where he took it too far and they found the wife dead somewhere. So I packed myself up and left. He likes to come around and visit. He likes to tease and taunt me. Likes to tell me I shouldn't have done what I did."

"Have you told the police?" He asked me.

"I actually had a court case against him but there wasn't enough evidence. It all got turned around against me and I looked like the bad guy. I haven't given up yet though." I stretched and rolled my shoulders. "Why don't we do something more fun?" I crawled over him in the booth and pulled him up, balancing my beer in one hand and dancing with him also.

I ran my hands along his body, feeling that he had a rather toned chest. I was actually hoping things would go well enough tonight, or in the near future that I'd get to see it. I bit my bottom lip and I noticed his eyes drop down to it, and he licked his lips at the sight. I felt his large hands on my waist as I swayed against him. I took a long swig of my beer, tilting my head back as I drank. I could feel his hot breath on my neck and then he was kissing it. Then he was kissing me.

Our more fun activities turned out to be really fun. So fun in fact, I was pulled into his truck and driven back to his place. By this point I'm pretty sure my there was more alcohol than blood running through my veins. I'm also fairly sure a sheriff's deputy probably shouldn't be driving right now.  
I looked to him and then the road, he seemed to be doing okay but I wondered if I should be sitting where I was right now. People occupying the passenger seat did have a 70 something percent chance of pegging it. And I was probably very likely to die being with someone who was driving under the influence. I shook my head. I didn't care. Most of the time being drunk doesn't mean you don't know what your doing is stupid, when you're drunk you know it's fucking dumb but you do it anyway.

* * *

"Baby you're being pretty quiet, you're not changing your mind are you?" Shane looked over at me. I guess I was being pretty quiet, but what were we supposed to talk about. I didn't want to kill the mood but the silence was doing that anyway.

"You know when I was a teenager I saw a kid in health class pull a condom out his nose. Like spaghetti but with a condom." I blurted out. Internally I was screaming.  
Shane looked at me and I was about ready to start banging my head on the dash board.

"I'm not actually sure why I said that." I said after a moment. He laughed, but I wasn't sure if it was at me or the awkwardness. "I could talk dirty if you want?" I suggested.

"I'm still thinking about that kid's nose." Shane joked. I rolled my eyes, I should have just kept silent.

"Speaking of condoms, I bet you a blowjob I can put one on with my mouth." I saw the corners of his mouth twitch.

"But if you did that, wouldn't I already be getting one?" He asked, fully grinning.

"True, but if I do it well enough you owe me one." I replied with a flirtations smile. "I'm pretty sure I can do it well enough, though. Imagine me running my hands over your body. I'd start with your arms, your chest and then I'd move down. I'd wrap my lips around it."

I saw him swallow, hard. I smirked, it was so easy for me to get him undone like this. Fun, too.

"I'd.."

"Stop!" He cut me off, panting. "You wanna make it home?" He asked.

"What's the matter big boy?" I teased. "Got 'cha all hot and bothered?"

"You know." He said after a minute. "We've talked about what you wanna do with me, but we haven't said anything about what I'm going to do to you."  
I gulped. Karma had just hit me hard in the face and suddenly everything I had said to Shane to get him going was gonna come straight back to bite me in the ass. Speaking of bites on the ass...

I noticed we'd pulled up in a driveway. "How about you show me?" I said in a rushed voice, pulling the door handle and shoving the door open. He jumped out and chased me to the porch steps where he grabbed me by the waist and unlocked his door. He thrust me against it and kissed my hungrily, and I turned the doorknob behind me. We fell into his house and he shut the door behind us. I threw my bag at the door by the coat rack and shoe stand. Somewhere on the stairs I'd kicked off my boots and socks and by the bedroom door that I'd been pinned against, my dress zipper was already down. My dress slipped off as I walked backwards into the room. I was in a strapless bra and panties when he threw me onto the bed and undid his belt and slacks. I rose on my knees and leaned forward to help liberate him from his shirt. He tugged it off his arms and threw his wife-beater over his head, I ran a hand down his toned chest, as promised. Sometime between taking his slacks off and sitting beside me on the bed he'd managed to kick off his own shoes and socks and I took that moment to climb atop of him. He hands immediately found their way to my waist and he pulled me close, though not rough enough to hurt me, like I was used to. Once we started kissing again it was hard to pry me off of him, or he from me.

* * *

When we finished I was exhausted, more so than I had been in a long time. I fell asleep beside him after he'd pulled out and dropped down beside me. Vaguely I felt him pull me into his arms before I drifted off, and kiss me softly one last time on the shoulder.


	6. Armstrong

**Chapter 4 - Armstrong**

After taking out a few more walkers I ran back up the stairs and grabbed the second half of my stuff only to be stopped by, you guessed it, more walkers. Yippee. After taking out the walkers in the hallway I was beginning to worry about how hard my bat was going to last. I ran down the stairs with the rest of my stuff and loaded it into the trunk beside my camping gear which I was going to need a lot more now the world had ended.

I gasped. I had forgotten something I couldn't leave without. I shut the trunk and ran up the stairs into my apartment and dove under the bed. I couldn't leave without this no matter what. There was a little wooden box under my bed which contained sentimental and non essential items. I ran with it back down the stairs and shielded it from oncoming attacks from the infected. My bat was going to be so fucked n a couple of days if I keep using it as much as I do. I'd have to pick up a new one somewhere. I mean I had the metal one but this one does more damage to the brain, which I'd worked out was the best way to kill them.

I jumped inside the car and locked myself inside and tore off out of the apartment building and down the street, nearly smashing through the automatic doors as I went. I suddenly got this chilling feeling that there was something behind me. I screeched to a halt and frantically checked the backseat. There was nothing there but there could have been and I needed to be more careful, make sure to check every time I get in the car, before I lock myself in.

After driving down the road and getting closer to the center of town I realized I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. Turning left I made my way out to the outskirts of town, a quieter area to think. Although it did take me a minute to remember you don't need to use your blinkers in the apocalypse. If fact it was probably a bit counter intuitive as the flashing light would probably attract the infected.

I didn't want to risk being seen and having my car attacked so I parked on one of the hard shoulders of the old road and turned the engine off. I unbuckled my seat-belt and slid down into the small space between my chair and the pedals, hiding under the dashboard. I pulled the map off the passenger side seat and going over it with a fine toothed comb. Don't go to Atlanta Dave had said. It's true it would be over populated and it would only take one person for it to spread throughout the whole city. Half way through the day they'd changed from saying, don't leave the house to go to Atlanta. The virus had spread so quickly. There was reports on the news that maybe foretold the events of today but I'd paid them no attention. You never think it's going to happen to you. After long minutes of not coming up with anything I decided to go to the police station. I was fairly familiar with a lot of the county sheriff's department staff through my connections with Rick and my case against Dave. Most of the officers were actually on my side which was nice, seeing as Dave had most of the jury wrapped around his fucking finger.

I also knew that Shane might be there. I knew I hadn't spoken to him in a week or so but I felt safe when he was around. It seems stupid, I hardly know him but if I had to spend the end of the world with anyone it might as well be someone I like.

I wiggled out from my hiding spot and strapped myself back in, pulling off the side of the road and heading towards the police station. It was probably my best bet at the moment. Half of me was still really angry at Shane but at the same time, there is two sides to every story and I shouldn't let my fury cloud my judgement.  
With little incident I made it to the King County Sheriff station after the gas station and noticed them pulling the gates shut as I approached. I sped up and charged at the gate. "Hold up!" I called out the window, wishing I hadn't immediately as I had probably just attracted more of the infected with my loudness. One of the officers I recognized saw me and let me in through the gates before he locked them behind me.

"Thanks." I said jumping out of the car and locking it behind me.

"Not a problem," He responded, looking me over.

"Don't worry, I'm not infected." I said feeling as though I knew why he was.

"Didn't think you were." He replied leading me inside. "So what brings you here of all places? Everyone else is evacuating."

"Atlanta so populated that it takes one person to bring the whole system down. It's safer away from the big cities. In actuality I cam here because I didn't know what to do or where to go. I was hoping I might find Shane here and he'd know something." I told him the truth. He took me into the break room and offered me a cup of coffee.

"Where is everyone?" I asked. The place was a ghost town.

"We got a little overrun too. Our officers went out to protect the people and most came back infected or not at all. If you get bit or scratched you're a goner. It's game over even if they don't rip you to shreds because if they get you, you turn. You get the fever and it burs you out. There's nothing you can do to stop it and then it's too late, you die and then you come back." He explained.

"You come back?" I scoffed, not believing such a thing possible.

"I know, it sounds like something out of a bad movie. But you'd better believe it sweetheart or you'll end up one of them." A bead of sweat dropped down his forehead and I noticed he did not look too well at all. "In regards to Shane, he went to go to the hospital and get Rick then find Lori and Carl. That was a few hours ago I'm not sure what happened there. I'm sorry Addison."

I shook my head. Damn. "No it's fine. Nothing we can do now." I sipped the hot coffee in my hands.

"I like your bat." Armstrong laughed, looking at my spiky club. "Come on, I'll hook you up with some supplies." he lead me deeper into the station than I'd ever been before. There was a metal cage and inside it was filled top to bottom with guns. He took out a black duffel with Sheriff written on it in white.

"Armstrong?" I asked, watching him load some basics into the bag.

"Yeah?" He responded, not looking up.

"Why are you helping me and giving me your supplies?" I watched him as he turned around to face me, a hand traveling behind me to my concealed Smith & Weston.  
He looked at me and sighed. He took a step towards me and I took a step back. He put up a hand towards me to calm me, although I was still wary of him. He began rolling up his sleeve to reveal a wound wrapped in white bandages with blood seeping through.

"I got bit." He explained. "I haven't got long myself, but you? You've got a while yet at least, if you play your cards right." I relaxed a little and let my hand drop back down to my side.

"That explains the sweating, you've got the fever."

He nodded at me and then went back to loading my bag with extra ammo and the basic necessities like a shotgun, rifle, something long with a scope. I didn't have much knowledge on guns having mostly grown up in Australia. In Australia there is a prohibition of sorts on guns and not many have experience with them. Police officers are permitted to carry a handgun on their possession but the general public are not allowed any automatic weapons and only allowed guns that could be used for hunting. But you had to get a permit for that and generally we didn't have much use for them.

"The scope is accurate on that one," he explained to me.

"Armstrong I don't even know what that is, I've never shot one before, never held one."

"Well you're gonna learn real quick." He replied, coming over to me and giving me a quick rundown on how to fire, release the safety, etc. etc.

* * *

Back in the break room he gave me some more food to add to my supplies and I put it in the bag. My coffee was now cold but I didn't care, I wasn't really sure what to do but it probably wasn't safe to stay here by myself and Armstrong wouldn't be much company once he dies and tried to tear the flesh from my body.

"I have to find Shane." I blurted out suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Yeah I was aware you two had a thing. I know he was taking the Grimes to Atlanta and they've most likely left by now. You could always try their house if you wanted, but I recommend making sure where ever you go you make sure you can either get back in time or find shelter by sunset and don't go anywhere at night."

Armstrong seemed to know a lot about surviving shame he'd gotten bit. I wouldn't have minded teaming up with him.

"It's probably too late to do anything today, if they were going anywhere they've already left and I don't want to be chasing ghosts. It's probably safer to set up here and move on tomorrow." I said after a while.

Armstrong spent the night trying to prepare me as much as he could for the world ahead and I couldn't help but find it a little suspicious that he was doing all this but for now I just took it as a dying man trying to do what he could for the living. He got me a spare CB Radio and some batteries for it so I could communicate with other survivors later and then we sat down for the night. I was eating a tin of spaghetti with a spoon when i realized I was getting tire.

Armstrong made me cuff him to the furniture across the room as I was getting ready for bed. It was a smart request, and I wasn't arguing with him. I was tucked up on the couch under a blanket he'd found me earlier.

"Why are you trying to find Shane so badly?" Armstrong asked me from his spot next to the radiator.

"I've got something to tell him. I've been trying to tell him for a while now and I'm not going to spend the end of days doing this alone. I've already lost John, I don't want to lose anyone else." I explained placing an arm over my eyes.

"So it's true then." He surmised.

"Yeah it's true..."


	7. Primal Urges

**Chapter 5 - Primal Urges**

I awoke maybe around 2 in the morning and I untangled myself from Shane's sleeping grasp. I sat up and stretched, hearing my shoulders make a familiar crack and pop. I felt the bed shift beneath me and saw movement behind me.

"Ready for round two?" He asked, stretching also.

"Round two?" I asked, raising a brow and remembering having my legs over his shoulders just a little while ago. I turned to face him and crawled towards him.

"Well I would be delighted to oblige. " I reached him and kissed him softly, his hands met my shoulders and rubbed circles on them. I was actually about to slip away in the night but since that had been the best sex I'd had in a long time I wouldn't say no to going again. He picked me up and placed me in his lap while we kissed, more passionately now. Moments later I was whisked off the bed and carried over to the wall which I was pressed up against, him holding me off the ground with my legs wrapped around his waist. He held my hips as he dropped me down on his member. I grunted, I wasn't as lubed up as I was before do it hurt a little. I wrapped my hands around his neck and kissed him more, he tucked his arm under me and went down to my folds with his other hand. He rubbed tender circles on my clit as he pressed his lips to mine, battling against my tongue with his own. I felt him get my juices going again before he removed his hand and held on to both of my hips. I ran my hands over his shoulders as he thrust into me and grunted, breathing heavily. I let out a loud groan as he hit the right spot and I felt his grin through the kiss. He broke apart our faces and moved to my neck, trying to find my sweet spot again. Once he found it he heard me let out another cry of passion. He thrust faster as he kissed and nipped at my neck, the friction down below. I tried to start kissing him again and he refused.

"Just let me do the work sweetheart. All you need to do is scream." He started kissing across my collar bone and down parts of my chest, keeping his fast pace. I did want to kiss him more but as he sped up a little it was hard to do anything but comply with his request. I let out an actual scream and this pleased him greatly.

"That's it baby, scream for me." I let out a moan of bliss and just as he thrust in again my legs started to shake. "It's okay baby, let it go. Come for me, just come for me."

It wasn't long after he said that, that I was coming for him. Again. I leaned my head back against the wall and panted. My body glistened with sweat in the pale moonlight and he leaned his head against my chest. I noticed he hadn't released yet and once he'd rested for a moment I started pushing his shoulders, trying to get him to go back towards the bed. He dropped me down on the mattress and was on his knees behind me and held my hips, ready to go into me doggy style.

"You must really like to hear me scream." I said a little breathless. I turned to face him.

"Let me take a little control. Trust me, I can get you there." I sat in his lap and pushed him down towards the headboard. His head hit the pillow and I pinned him down by his shoulders. I think he was a little surprised by my strength but not for long as I had dropped myself back down on his member, and leaned down to kiss him. I ran my tongue across his bottom lip as I started dropping myself down hard on his penis, lifting myself back up again and sliding along his shaft. I released him from my hold and allowed him to sit up, he brought his arms around me and held by back as I slammed myself onto him. I felt him groan a primal groan into my mouth as we fulfilled our very primal urges. He rolled his hips into mine and I let out a gasp and a moan as I was now able to reach my g-spot with his member. With our bodies grinding against each other and the friction satisfying us I let out another moan as we both came again, hard.

Gasping for breath I leaned my forehead against his and he dropped his arms. "Baby you sure know what you're doing." He said after a moment. I let out a soft, out of breath, laugh and leaned back a bit, dismounting and laying down on the bed beside him. He pulled me into his arms again.

* * *

When I woke up again it was 7am and I could hear birds chirping somewhere outside. I was still wrapped tightly in Shane's arms and feeling better rested than I had been in a long time. It seems going to that bar last night was a pretty good decision on my part. I smiled and then rolled over on my side, shimmying closer to Shane's sleeping form. He shifted behind me and kissed my shoulder. Apparently he wasn't as asleep as I'd thought. I looked at the clock and read the time. 7:15.

"Shit." I exclaimed.

"What?" Shane asked both interested and tired.

"I was supposed to be at work over an hour ago." I groaned rubbing my forehead.

"Don't go." He replied simply. "Problem solved."

I shifted to get out of bed and his hold on me tightened. "I at least need to call in, Shane." reluctantly he released me and I sat up. One of his hands was in the drawer beside his bed.

"Here." he said practically throwing a t-shit and pair of boxers at me. He rubbed his face into the pillow trying to get back to sleep and I laughed. I tugged on the baggy clothing he'd given me and slipped out of the room, walking across the cold floor. It wouldn't stay that for long, today was supposed to be a scorcher.

I headed downstairs to where I'd left my handbag the night before, picking up my shoes and socks as I went. I put my boots on the doormat in the hallway and tucked my socks inside them. Searching my handbag for my phone I noticed a missed call from my boss, Mike's brother, Ashley. Shit. I was so boned.

He'd left a message so I typed in the number and listened to it. "Hey Addie, it's Ash. Call me when you get this." Well that was worth listening to. I pressed redial and anxiously waited for his answer.

"Hello?" I heard Ash's tired and almost groggy response.

"Yeah, hey Ash it's me Addie."

"Addison? Oh yeah I rang you earlier."

"Yeah you did. Hey I'm really sorry I had a long night last night and I over slept I am so sorry." I ran a hand through my hair.

"Don't worry about it Addie. I was calling to tell you the site's closed for inspection today. They come at 9 and will be there most of the day. We wouldn't be able to start up until about 2 so we gave everyone the day off. It's too hot today to work anyway." Ash explained still sounding like he'd just woken up. Mike was pretty chill but Ash was the most casual and relaxed. How he was the bis boss I'll never know.

"Oh, okay. Hey I'm sorry if I woke you up. You sound tired."

"Yeah I also had a bit of a long night. Decided to get some shut eye."

"Oh, now I'm really sorry. I'll let you get back to it. Thanks Ash."

"Don't mention it." He replied and ended the call.

Well, at least I don't have to go to work. I stretched and headed back to bed. I never normally stayed the night with anyone, so this was new. I walked back up the stairs and climbed back in bed beside Shane, who upon my arrival, wrapped his arms back around me. It didn't take me long to fall back asleep and I honestly felt like I didn't want this moment to end.

* * *

The next time I woke up Shane was gone from the bed and all our clothes were off of the floor. Mine had been folded up and put on the nightstand next to me and I assumed Shane's were in the hamper by the bathroom. I ran my hands through my hair and tousled it a little. I sat up and climbed down the stairs again and headed to the kitchen where I could hear movement.

"Morning." Shane called over his shoulder. How he knew I was there I will never know. I sat on one of the stools by the counter. Resting my chin on my palm as I watched him doing whatever it was that he was doing.

"I haven't slept like that in ages." I commented. "Don't you have work?" I asked, noting the time on the wall clock.

"I don't work on Thursdays." He responded. "And I'm not surprised you slept so much after a workout like that." He grinned.

"Oh yeah?" I raised a brow.

"Yeah." He stopped for a moment and then smirked. "By the way, you snore."

"What?" I shook my head. "No way."

"Way. You snore like a puppy dog." He laughed.

"I hate you." I pouted.

"You won't be saying that in a minute," he replied, turning around and grabbing two plates from the cupboard. "How do you take your coffee?"

"Two sugars and cinnamon." I replied.

"Cinnamon? You're a fruitcake." He turned to look at me before he went through his cupboards looking for some cinnamon and handed it to me to put in my cup.

"You take milk?" He put the jug on the counter next to me. "Hope you like bacon and eggs."

"Are you kidding me. I bet you ten whole dollars that I could eat my body weight in bacon." I replied watching him stack up the plates and walk over to the table, where I followed him, admiring his shirtless form. "And thanks for breakfast, I wasn't expecting it."

"You were expecting to slip away in the night, right?" He responded, looking up from his plate.

"I'm never good at the morning after." I said honestly, trying not to talk with my mouthful. "The awkward coffee talk or shrugging my clothes on and doing the walk of shame. Or waking up and not really remembering where I am, saying goodbye to someone I really liked. It's easier if you just skip all of that."

"Will I be one of those goodbyes?" He asked not looking up at me this time.

"This goodbye doesn't have to be forever. Truth is I wouldn't mind seeing you again, no matter what the circumstances."

* * *

"You sure you don't want me to drive you?" Shane asked standing in his doorway. He was leaning against the frame and still refusing to wear his shirt. But at least he'd showered today, I made sure of that. After breakfast he'd carried me up the stairs and we'd showered together, him destroying what was left of my straightened hair, it turning back to a wavy mess.

"No, I've got a few stops to make along the way." I smiled, pulling my blonde hair up into a ponytail.

"And you've got my number, right?" He asked leaning out to kiss my cheek.

"Yeah I do. I'll be sure to call you." I walked down the front steps and headed out into town again, hoping that any of the random strangers about didn't realize I was wearing yesterday's clothing.

I got down past the park when I realized something and almost sent myself flying face down into the dirt. I'd slept with Shane more than three times last night and I don't remember using a condom once that night.

"Shit." I said out loud, receiving a dirty look from an old lady as she passed.  
I ran my hands through my fringe and tried to regulate my breathing. I was standing hunched over in the park, holding my head and almost crying. I dropped down to my knees and rested my head down on them, sobbing uncontrollable sobs. I'm not sure how long I lay there before I heard a gruff but gentle southern voice call out to me.

* * *

"Ma'am?" The voice sounded familiar to me. "Ma'am are you alright?"

I looked up to meet the familiar blue eyes, worried and searching me for injuries. "Rick." I choked out.

"Addison." He walked over to me cautiously. "Are you hurt?"

I shook my head and he knelt down beside me. "Rick I've done something really stupid. I don't know what to do."

"What have you done Addison?" He asked trying to get me off of the ground. When I didn't respond he asked me again. "Addison, qhat have you done?" He asked more firmly.

"I need to talk to Lori." I said eventually.

"Is this about Carl?" He asked panicked. I shook my head in response. He relaxed almost instantly and breathed a sigh of relief.

"She would know what to do." I sobbed. He helped me up off the ground and wrapped his arms around me.

"You're okay Addison. Everything will be okay." He soothed and stroked my hair. He opened the back door to his police cruiser and helped me inside. Armstrong smiled kindly at me from the passenger seat while Rick drove me over to their family home.


	8. Old Quarry

**Chapter 6 - Old Quarry**

"I'm pregnant." I told Armstrong. "And Shane's the father."

"I thought so. Just before Rick got shot and we picked you up off the side of the road, Shane mentioned something about meeting this girl at a bar. And then he started asking for your file at the station. And Rick might have suspected something about that being the 'stupid' thing you'd done. Everyone was really preoccupied with the shooting to really spare any thought to anything else." Anderson explained.

"I know, I remember babysitting Carl for Lori while she was at the hospital." I nodded my head and kept my eyes covered, not knowing what to do. I spend most of my life not knowing what to do. "So have you always known?"

"I've suspected all this time, but you only just confirmed it now." He replied. "You know, if things hadn't worked out with Shane, I'd have taken care of you. All of us down the station would have."

"Thanks," I replied. I yawned tiredly. I don't remember feeling this stressed when I found out I was having John. I'd just finished high school and David had just gotten some office job somewhere, I don't even remember and when I told him, he wasn't mad. He held me in his arms and told me we were going to be so happy together. I remember that moment and thinking that I had everything, feeling like I was the luckiest girl in the world. It wasn't until after John was born that things went south. David was just another person.

* * *

I woke up with the sun and the birds chirping like nothing had happened. But if nothing had happened I wouldn't be sleeping on the couch in the Sheriff station. I sighed and took my arm off my eyes and squinted in the morning light.

"Armstrong?" I called out.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"You're alive?!" I asked surprised, I was sure he'd turn in the night.

"I'm as surprised as you are." He said after a moment. I got up for the day and uncuffed him from the radiator. I made sure I had everything and Armstrong helped me carry my things outside. He covered my back while I loaded up the Wrangler and prepped to go. "You got everything?" he asked when I rechecked everything.

"I should do." I replied. "Are you sure you want me to just leave you here?" I asked after a moment. "Armstrong?" There was no reply. "Armstrong?" I asked turning around hearing a hiss and a growl.

I gasped and stepped back. "Oh Armstrong I'm so sorry." I said pulling out my Ruger from it's holster inside my jacket. I flicked off the safety and pulled the trigger. To hell with the noise, this was mercy. His body fell backwards, almost in slow motion and hit the ground with a thump. "Good bye Armstrong."

I unlocked the gate and drove out of the lot, going straight to Lori and Carl's house, wondering if they left any sign of where they were going. The trip was uneventful and I felt even more lost. I got there and all the photos were gone, the drawers where empty and so were the cupboards. I sighed. "Well, there goes that plan."

I turned and came face to face with a young teenager 13 maybe 14 years old. "Jesus Christ!" I exclaimed, my accent coming out more so than ever.

"Actually my name's Duane." the kid in front of me joked.

"Duane! Who are you talking to?" An older voice called from outside.

"My name's Addison, Addison West. I didn't realize anyone else was here." I called out so the guy coming through the door wouldn't shoot me.

"What are you doing here Addison West?" The man asked.

"I used to baby sit the little boy who lived here. I was looking to see if the family was still here." I replied honestly.

"Well they're not." He responded.

"I see that. I was actually just leaving now, but if you find anyone with the surname Grimes floating about, tell them I was looking." I made my way to the door before I got my brains blown out. The kid was alright but the dad seemed kind of action man, shoot first ask questions later type of guy.

I'd hopped on into my jeep and driven out to the highway to check things out. I wasn't headed for Atlanta, just hoping to take some back roads and get the hell out of here. I could head up to Fort Benning maybe. Or just get the hell out of Georgia. I drove on the opposite side of the road as the highway was gridlocked with empty cars. "Holy shit." I looked at all the cars around and decided to pull off onto the closest back road. I pulled out the CB and started tuning it to the emergency broadcast channel.

"Civilian broadcasting on emergency broadcast channel. I am approaching Atlanta on Highway 85. Does anyone read? Over." I sent out the call, I'm not sure if it was necessary to mention I was a civilian but whatever. "I have left King County and am on the 85 Highway, does anybody read?"

"...Emergency broadcast... we read you...do not go to Atlanta...city dangerous." a crackling voice came over the CB.

"I am not reading you clearly. There seems to be some interference. I'm not going into Atlanta. I was going to get one some backroads and continue on to Fort Benning but the highway is blocked. Over" I responded to the warning against Atlanta.

"camp...off the highway...quarry...meet at old quarry turn off." The quarry?

"Message received, ETA for the turnoff 13 hundred hours. Over." I waited a moment to see if I'd get a response but I heard nothing. I turned back towards the highway and drove along the wrong side of the road again until I reached the old quarry. I saw a few men moving some vehicles out of the way and a familiar truck waiting by the turnoff.

I pulled up beside one of the men, a Korean looking guy. "Yo, you the dude from the radio?" I called out the window at him.

"Not personally, but yeah, we're from the same group. We're up this way." He replied and jumped into the truck along with the other men. I followed them down the dirt road and parked a few meters behind them. I grabbed my spiky bat and jumped from the side of the jeep, locking the door and I closed it.

"You're back," A blonde female commented as she came up to the group of men.

"Yeah, she wasn't hard to find." The Korean man replied gesturing to me. "Yo new girl, come meet everyone." Reluctantly I walked closer to him and followed along with them until we came across a group by the campfire.

"Everyone, this is..." The Korean man started, I was about to introduce myself when I heard a small voice scream my name.

"ADDIE!" A pale, freckled boy with dark hair charged at me and I dropped my bat, crouching down and spreading my arms wide. Car dove on me so hard I was knocked off my feet and I landed in the dirt.

"Hey Carl." I smiled hugging him tightly and kissing him on the head.

"Addison?" I heard Lori's voice from behind Carl and looked up.

"Hey Lori." I smiled. When Carl finally released me I stood up, dusted myself off and introduced myself to the rest of the group. "Hey y''all I'm Addison." I rested my hands on my head and took a deep breath.

"I'm Glen." The Korean man from before introduced himself. "And this is Carol, Amy, Andrea..." He went on a long tour of introducing everyone to me and most of which I didn't really care about. To be perfectly honest I only really cared about Carl and Lori. They were my family now, they have been for a while.

"Did y'all find that radio caller?" A familiar voice asked in the southern drawl I was used to in these parts. I turned around to face the voice and met eyes with none other than Shane Walsh. And although I had been looking for him all this time, seeing him face to face reignited the rage I felt for him. Just looking at his stupid face made me so angry I was about to burst.

"Addison.." He breathed, looking at me with a look I couldn't describe. It was like he'd been missing me for years and I'd just shown up out of the blue. I was about ready to punch the sucker now so I did all I could. Turned around and walked away. Cowards Punch, heroes walk away. That was the old saying wasn't it? There were these ads on the tv when I was younger to try and reduce the amount of pub fights and king hits. They renamed the king hit to the coward's punch.

"Addison what the hell?" He called as I spun around on my heel and stormed away, back to my jeep. I'd gotten to behind the Wrangler and I put my head down on the hatch, feeling the hot glass burn my skin. I tugged off my red jacket and put my hands on head. I breathed deeply and tried to calm myself down.

"Addison come back here." Shane demanded, grabbing my arm. "What the hell?" He asked, looking at me like he didn't know why I was pissed.  
All the rage I'd been trying to suppress came out and I swung at him, hitting him square in the jaw. "You asshole!" I screamed loud enough for the entire camp to hear. Two other men who I hadn't met yet stood behind Shane and the older one was chuckling.

"Well, well, look 'ere. Sweetcheeks and J I Joe r already fightin'."

"Fuck off Merle." Shane said without turning his head. He was too busy staring me down trying to work out why the hell I'd just punched him in the face.

"ain't goin' anywhere. Not when you're puttin' on such a show." He replied. I rolled my eyes and pointed my bat at him. He eyes the bloody nails poking out of it.

"Back the hell of asswipe." I growled.

"Whatever you say sweetcheeks." He put his hands up in surrender and he and the other man walked off.

"Why the hell did you just punch me in the face just now?" Shane raised an eyebrow waiting for an answer looking pissed.

"You abandoned me when I needed you you fucking jerk!" I yelled in a hushed tone so no one could eves drop.

"If this is about me getting Lori and Carl out and not you then.." he started but I cut him off.

"This is not about that! That wasn't your fault." I hissed. "I'm talking about after we slept together and you made sure I had your number and then you stood me up for dinner and ignored my calls and ignored me all together. I'm talking about when you forgot I existed. I know what happened with Rick was hard on you because it was hard on me too, he was my friend and my family. But I needed you and you just left me on my own."

He opened his mouth to speak but I didn't let him.

"No," I cut him off. "It's my turn to speak. You lead me on, you could have just slept me and then that would have been it. Like I wanted." I said. "But no, you had to make me stay, you had to make me think you cared, you had to make me feel safe and happy and like everything was going to be okay. You walked into my life, made me care and then you just cut me off. You don't get to do that. You don't get to do that and the next time I see you pretend nothing happened." I turned around and walked around the jeep, sitting on the hood and taking a deep breath, trying not to cry. I was done crying over him and I was done crying.

"You alright?" Lori asked, sitting up beside me.

"I had to get that out. I'd been so mad at him for so long that I was going to explode. He just cut me off." I ran my hand through my hair. Lori put an arm around me and rubbed my shoulder. She'd always been like an older sister to me since I'd met her. "Maybe I shouldn't have lost it at him, punched him in the face but he really hurt me Lori."

"I know baby." She patted my back. "Come on now, let's find you someplace to sleep." She jumped off the hood.

"Actually I brought my own tent." I replied following her.

"You want help setting it up?" Glen asked, popping up from nowhere.

"Sure, I don't see why not." I lead him back to the hatch of my jeep. I popped the trunk and I looked at him. "I was in shock when I packed most of this so I don't know how much is useful." I explained as he looked at the mattress topper. He just laughed and helped me haul the heavy tent bag out of the car.


	9. Just three weeks

**Chapter 7 - Just Three Weeks**

Lori was surprised to see me, especially in my current state, but she welcomed me inside handing me a glass of water while I hugged one of the decorative pillows from the couch.

"What do you mean you just found her on the side of the road?" Lori asked in a hushed voice.

"She was curled up on the ground and crying. She kept asking to see you, said you'd know what to do. She doesn't seem to be injured, just in shock. She keeps repeating over and over that she'd done something really stupid and that's all I can get out of her." I heard Rick explain, fiddling with his hat in his hands.

"Okay." She said after a moment. "Let me talk to her, I'll call you later." Rick gave her a nod and put his had back on, heading out the door.

"You gonna tell me what's wrong baby?" Lori sat down on the coffee table in front of me.

"Lori I was so stupid." I started sobbing in front of her.

+++

"Well you won't know for three weeks from now baby. It can take up to 5 days after having sex to get pregnant and then you won't know for two weeks after that, so, that gives you two options. One, the morning after pill. Take that and you won't have to worry anymore. Or two, you do nothing, you wait three weeks and you decided what you want then. Personally I think you should wait, that gives you three weeks to decide what you want to do." Lori explained calmly after listening to me cry my heart out.

"Lori I want this baby but I don't think I can do it by myself." I explained, a little calmer.

"Then you need to talk to this guy. Find him and tell him that you might be pregnant. And you're going to have to make a go of it." Lori told me. I wonder if she'd be mad if she found out who it was that I met in the bar.

"But.."

"Addison do you know who this guy is?" Lori cut me off.

"Yeah, it's just... He's a good guy I just don't know if I want to tell him just yet. I mean what if I got to know him and made a go of things with out the pressure of a maybe baby?" I asked.

"You'll have to tell him eventually, you can't keep this sort of thing from someone. The longer you keep it to yourself makes it look like you were hiding it from them. You don't want that."

* * *

Eventually I decided to wait three weeks to see if I was pregnant and try and make a go of things with Shane, tell him when I knew for sure. We could decide what to do together. Half way through the second week I knew for sure and I hadn't seen Shane in a while, him not answering my calls. I got a call from Lori a few days after I told her about my pregnancy scare and she asked me to come to the hospital and take Carl home.

"Ma'am can I help you?" A receptionist behind the desk in ICU asked as I tried to walk past her and go straight to the room that Lori told me they were in.

"No I'm all good." I replied and continued to rush down the hallway to find them.

"Ma'am you can't go down there." She called but I ignored her, running up to where Carl and Lori were sitting in some hard plastic chairs.

"Lori." I breathed, a little out of breath from running all the way here and attempting to dodge the receptionists.

"Addison, thank god you're here." She replied. I could see that she and Carl had both been crying.

"What happened?" I asked, looking them over. '

"My dad was shot." Carl said with a cracking voice. I knelt down in front of his chair. I looked at him and ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Don't worry little bug, I'm sure he'll be fine. All the doctors and nurses here spent a long time studying and practicing very hard so they're experts now. They won't let your daddy die." I tried to sooth. He jumped off the chair and threw his arms around me. He started crying again, into my shoulder and held me tightly. I held him just as tightly and rubbed his back.

"It's okay munchkin, let it all out." I patted him softly on the back and cradled his head.

Once Carl had composed himself and stopped crying as much Lori had me take him home and get him ready for bed. She said she'd stay here for the night make sure everything was kosher.

"You don't have to worry Lori, I can look after him for as long as it takes, I've got no jobs on this week." I explained.

"I'll pay you for your time." Lori started but I turned to face her again.

"Don't you even think about it." I replied, almost snapping at her. "This is no time for you to be thinking about that crap. I'll look after him as long as you need, **without charge.** " I wasn't going to charge her for needing to be with her husband after he'd been shot.

"Lori Grimes?" A woman in green scrubs came running out towards us. "Your husband needs a blood transfusion. Do you know his blood type?"

"A positive, same as Carl's." Lori commented. The woman in scrubs nodded and turned around headed away. What she said sparked a thought in my mind.

"Lori, that's my blood type." I said turning to her once again. "If you need..."

"No I'm sure we'll be fine." She breathed, like she'd had the wind knocked out of her. "Thank you though."

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked her and she nodded.

I turned around and a little further down the hallway was Shane Walsh holding two cardboard cups of hospital coffee and looking at me gobsmacked. "Addison? What are you doing here?"

"Lori called me, wanted me to take Carl home." I explained. I hadn't seen him since his house.

"I wasn't aware you knew 'em." He replied, walking closer and handed Lori her cup.

"She'd been baby sitting Carl since he was 10." Lori clarified for me. "It's getting late and I don't want him hanging around here, worrying."

"I could've taken him home." Shane commented. Rude. His whole attitude towards my presence made me feel like he didn't want me here. Asshole. I'm doing my job. I didn't realize it was your fucking job to shack up with the deputy's wife as soon as he gets shot.

Okay so maybe that wasn't what was happening but I had just as much right to be here as he did. Carl had stayed close to me as soon as I had arrived and was holding onto me while I talked to Shane.

"Yeah, well she called me." I said bluntly. "Come on Carl, let's get you home." I didn't give him time to reply as I scooped the boy up and carried him on my hip to the car. I know he was 12 and a bit old do be carried the way I did but he was going through a hard time right now and he wasn't that heavy.

I know my strength certainly shocked my coworkers on my first few days in the construction company. But Mark and Ashley liked me so I was always employed when I came in looking for a day labor. Then they put me on the payroll so I always get a call when we have a job. I drove back to my place to grab an overnight bag and shoved a few things inside. While I was packing Carl sat by me on the bed, swinging his legs.

"Who's that in the photo?" He asked after a while, pointing at the frame on the bedside table.

"That's my ex husband and my grandparents." I explained. It was just after I'd graduated high school in the pizza parlor on main street that closed down a few years ago. We'd gone there because the graduation was long and tedious and the foo wasn't all that great. We skipped the after party and went out for pizza instead.

"Do you still love him?" Carl asked. To be honest I don't think I ever loved him but I wasn't going to tell that to a child.

"Not anymore sweetie." I replied.

"Is that why you broke up? Because you didn't love each other?" Carl asked me looking at me with pleading eyes.

"Baby what's this about?" I sat next to him on the bed and put an arm around him.

"Before I went to school today my mom said to my dad 'sometimes I wonder if you even care about us as all'. They still love each other right? They're not going to break up are they?" Carl started to cry again. I held him closer and stoked his hair.

"Of course they still love each other Carl. Didn't you see how worried your mama was today? Listen to me now baby, you're dad's going to get better and come home and your mom and your daddy are going to stay together and be happy. Trust me, they really love each other." I couldn't be sure if they really did love each other though. I knew Rick loved Lori but I never knew if she felt the same. They were married, it was assumed.

"Really?" He looked up at me.

"Of course. Nothing on this earth will separate your dad from you mom. They love each other. And when you love someone, and you fight for it, you can make it happen." I told him, beginning to sound like a script from a Disney movie. I finished packing my things and I got a message from Lori asking me to keep Carl off school the next day. She didn't want him worrying all day at school, not being able to concentrate, the impending demise of his father running through his head.

I hadn't seen my parents since middle school, I couldn't even imagine how Carl was feeling not knowing if his daddy was going to live or die. I finished packing my stuff and took Carl back to his parents house. He couldn't get settled so I sat with him on the couch after changing into my pjs and watched a SpongeBob marathon on Netflix. He sat leaning on me under a blanket until he fell asleep.

* * *

The sun hadn't fully risen and the light around the house was grey. I'd woken up to someone flicking off the TV and walking the opposite of quietly into the kitchen. I though Lori might have been back but I noticed it was a man with dark hair. In my tired state I just pretended to go back to sleep. If it was a burglar he wouldn't have turned off the tv and started making coffee. I heard someone on the stairs and come into the living room. The walked away and two sets of footsteps returned.

"Shane, look. Isn't that so sweet?" I heard a Lori sounding whisper.

I opened my eyes a fraction just in time so see Shane smile and nod before going back to the kitchen to make coffee. I could smell the coffee now and it made me starving. To awkward to move I pretended to -or actually was, I'm not sure- be asleep until someone put a mug of coffee on the coffee table and I felt a hand on my shoulder, shaking it lightly.

I opened my eyes and it was a lot lighter outside. I sat up carefully, avoiding waking up Carl and looked over at the person who'd awoken me. It was Shane who was now in a fresh set of clothing. I think he might have had time to go home and change in the time I was pretending to be asleep. It certainly seemed a lot later in the morning and felt like I'd been out more then a few minutes.

"Hey." I said groggily, in a hoarse voice.

"Morning sunshine." He smiled, sipping his own beverage. I put a hand to my head and yawned, stretching out at the same time. Then I ran my hands over my face and checked the clock.

"Already 9 huh?" I asked rhetorically. "What time did you guys get back from the hospital?"

"About 5:30. Lori's in bed still, trying to catch up on some sleep before she goes back." Shane started. "I said I'd look after Carl today if you wanted to go home or to work or whatever."

"No, no. That's kind but I'll stay. I promised Carl I would." I replied, turning him down. "Sorry about being snippy last night." I said after a moment. I took a sip of my coffee and smiled at the taste; he remembered the cinnamon.

He nodded and went back into the kitchen, clattering around. I swear Shane had no idea how to be quiet and I hoped there was never a stealth situation he encountered because he was guaranteed to fuck it up somehow. A little later he was putting plates on the table in the dining room and he asked me to get Carl up. I shook the boy who was resting on me awake and followed him through to the dining room.

"Pancakes, huh?" I leaned on the doorframe.

"You surprised I know how to cook?" He smirked, sitting down beside Carl.

"I'm surprised you can cook anything besides bacon & eggs and steak, yes." I replied eating one of the pieces of strawberry. A little while into breakfast Lori came down the stairs in fresh clothes.

"Pancakes, huh?" She commented, sitting down beside me.

"Why is everyone so damn surprised I can cook?" He exclaimed. Lori, Carl and I all laughed as he chewed his fist.

Lori went back to the hospital after breakfast and Shane stayed with me all day looking after Carl. Lori came back that evening to us eating spaghetti and Carl covered in past sauce. I'd helped Carl with his homework a little but we didn't do too much because I didn't want to stress him.


	10. Small hands

**Chapter 8 - Small Hands**

Even though this was a new tent that I hadn't put up before, with my previous experience and Glen's help, we had it up in no time. I went back to the trunk and he followed, keen to help me some more.

"You need help with anything else?" He asked when I stopped and looked at him.

"You have a collective group storage of food or something?" I asked, he nodded and explained where everything was kept. I emptied my personal items out of the main bag I was carrying and put the food from the sheriff's bag into it. "You want to carry this one while I get the water?" I asked, figuring that the cans would be heavier and I didn't want to overdo myself.

"No don't push yourself, water's heavy. I'll get Morales and Shane to help out." Glen shook his hand from left to right when the thought of me carrying the water by myself came up.

"I don't think it'll take three people to carry all this water." I replied.

"No but me and Morales will get the water and Shane can grab the food while you finish unpacking." Well if he's set on doing the work for me then fine. He went off to go and get help and in the meantime the woman known as Carol came up and stated making idle conversation.

"So what'd you do before all of this?" She asked, leaning up on the side of the open wrangler.

"Construction." I replied. "You?"

"Housewife." Came her response, seeming almost ashamed or like she was feeling inadequate.

"My mom was a housewife." I started, trying to make herself feel better. "But I wasn't really cut out for it, I got bored with the day to day real easy so my husband at the time suggested I find myself a job, keep busy. Construction was what I was good at and it payed well so Dave was pretty happy he didn't have to put in as long hours at the office."

"At the time?" She asked, picking up on the face I wasn't married to Dave anymore. "You marry again?"

"No, nothing like that. We were together for 10 years. But after 8 years of marriage it started to feel like we weren't the same people we used to be. We'd changed, me for the better, him for the worst. I had become more confident and less submissive and him, well, let's not go into that." I explained and she nodded.

"Ever think of having children?" She asked. My heart chose that moment to start aching. At this moment I chose not to tell her, she was nice but I didn't really want her pity, or judgement.

"I thought about it a fair bit." Haha. If only she knew. "But children with David is a bad combination." Just as I finished I noticed Glen had chosen that moment to return.

"Who's David?" Glen asked, pushing his red baseball cap up a bit.

"My ex husband." I told him tucking some of the things I'd taken out of the food bag into another.

"What, he die?" He asked noticing the face I'd put on when mentioning him.

"I hope so." I blurted out without thinking. Carol, Glen and the newly arrived Morales were taken aback but Shane just laughed from behind me. He went to grab the food bag but stopped when he saw the Sheriff's bag.

"You swing by the Sheriff Station?" He gave me a pointed look.

"Yeah. I shot Armstrong." I replied, not liking the look he was giving me. "I spent my first night at the station with him, he got bit earlier that day. He turned when I was packing up the next day. Shot him."

"He give you these?" Shane asked.

"Yeah and the CB. He said the scope's accurate on that one but I didn't check." I replied. I hope he didn't pick up on the fact I was calling it that one and not whatever the hell it was because I didn't want to let on I knew nothing.

Shane nodded and picked up the food bag, headed to wherever it was they were keeping the food. I hadn't been listening when Glen told me. My tools were next to the bag of guns and I placed my bag of weapons next to it.

"Whoo ee. Girl's got 'n armory in her jeep." Merle admired, coming closer to inspect it. He was met with a familiar situation like before, my bat and nails in his face.

"Back off Merle." I bit, hoping he'd fuck off and I wouldn't have to hit him.

"Why do ya keep threatnin' ma brother?" the other guy from before asked, joining us. Great, another redneck.

"What, you want me to threaten you instead?" I asked, leaning towards him, my face right up at him.

"No." He replied. "I want to get yor stupid face outta mine."

"Haven't spent much time looking in the mirror, have ya, asshole?" I replied. "Your face is plenty stupider than mine."

"Alright y'all, you both have stupid faces. Can we wrap this up?" Shane had come back with Glen. I shot Shane a glare and was met with a happy smirk.

"Not what you said about my face before, was it?" I replied shutting the jeep and storming away, past the RV and down to the quarry.

"For the love of god." I heard Shane muttering just was I walked off.

* * *

"You gon' make this a regular thing? Storming off all pissy with me?" Shane sat beside me on one of the rocks over looking the water.

"Only if you keep pissing me off." I replied in a smartass manner.

"You know, I know I never called but that can't be all. Why are you so mad at me?" He asked, looking at me, expecting an answer.

"I don't want to talk about it right now Shane." I brushed him off. I did want to tell Shane the truth, that I was definitely pregnant with his baby and I was pissed because he kept not answering when I wanted to tell him. I mean over the phone was a bad way to break it to him but I couldn't tell him the next time I saw him as his best friend had just gotten shot. There just never seemed to be a right time, especially now when the world was currently overrun by the dead. I hadn't even told him I had a son.

"What did you want to tell me, Addison. When are we going to talk about it, huh? You spend all this time trying to get a hold of me and all of a sudden you don't want to talk?"

He had a point. But fuck Shane, that asshole. Wait, I already did. HAhaha. I must have laughed out loud. He looked at me pointedly and asked "Something funny Addison?" He sounded like one of my old teachers back in high school.

"Nothing." I smirked. "I was just thinkin'. You had a point, but I'm still mad at you. So I though, fuck Shane. And then I thought, wait, I already did." I laughed. He just looked at me.

"You sure find a way to be amused at the strangest things.." He replied, probably thinking about that condom story.

"Look if what you wanted to tell me had something to do with your son, don't worry. I already know. But I am a little surprised not seeing him here with you."

"David got him out. They were gone before I got there, he left me a note. It was him that told me not to go to Atlanta. I went home and packed my things, the next place I wanted to go was the police station, see if you were there." I put my hands on the back of my head, elbows outstretched and I sighed. "I got there just as Armstrong was shutting the gates, he was all that was left. He told me you'd gone to get Lori and Carl out of the town, which I was glad about. They're like my family, you see, and it meant a lot you'd gotten them out, even though I know you didn't do it for me."

Shane nodded taking all this in. "Not what you wanted to tell me though?" He asked, knowingly.

"No." I confirmed. "But I'm too tired to talk about that now. We can talk about it another time. I won't forget."

"Me neither." he replied. "I'll remember you have something to tell me, and I'll remember to ask you about it every day until you tell me." he promised. Asshole.

"You get your tent all setup?" He asked, walking me back to camp.

"More or less. Gotta set things up inside a little more." He pushed me up the rocks a little, helping me get to the top. Not that I needed it.

"Addison?" He asked after a moment.

"Yeah?" I looked at his face, his eyebrows knitting together.

"Never mind." He shook his head.

"Nuh-uh. You can't keep me in the dark with this one. If you're gonna keep reminding me, I'm gonna keep reminding you."

"What are you, five?" He asked annoyed.

"You bet." I grinned. He went off to go do something else as I pulled the air mattress and pump from my trunk. I pulled apart the plastic packaging inside the box and pulled out the new airbed. I put the hose nozzle from the foot pump inside the hole of the airbed and started inflating it by stomping on the pump. It was about halfway up when Glen walked past, noticing what I was doing.

"Whoa, an airbed." He looked on appreciatively.

"Sweetcheeks has all the modern comforts, I know where I'll be bunking tonight." Merle commented. Boy I just couldn't shake the rednecks, could I?

"You will, will you?" I snarled. "For fucks sake Merle!" I was about to lunge at him when Shane popped up again, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Merle, why don't you give it a rest?" He demanded rather than suggested. Merle stalked off while I kept pumping up the air mattress.

"Hey Glen?" I called for the mesmerized young adult's attention.

"Yeah?" He looked at me.

"I've got a spare in the wrangler if you want it. I was planning a camping trip just before this all started and these things were pretty unreliable when I was a kid. I prepared for an accident." I offered.

"Sweet." He grinned, I imagined he'd been sleeping on the ground this whole time. "You picked a hell of a time for a camping trip." he commented. (That was a line from the book tomorrow when the war began. Really good book, you should read it. If you don't like books there's also a movie.)

I finished pumping up the mattress and put the plug in to stop the air from coming out again. I took the pump with me and headed back up to my car. I handed Glen the pump and was about to send him on his way with the spare bed when I saw his shocked face.

"Four pillows?" He asked, raising his eyebrow at me.

"I over compensated. Like I said earlier, I was in shock when I packed a lot of this so a fair bit of this is non essential. Go ahead and grab a pillow if you want. I won't need 'em all." I grabbed my quilt and some sheets as well as the mattress topper. "See look at this," I gestured to the sheets. "What did I need all this for when I packed a sleeping bag?"

Glen laughed and I handed him a few extra blankets as well. I'd made friends with him and I wanted to make sure he wasn't going without. Who on earth goes away on a trip and doesn't think to pack a bed. Common sense really, you should at least have foam mats so you don't fuck up your back as badly. Americans. Even Aussies have mats in their swags.

I pulled the padded mattress topper over the airbed, followed by a fitted sheet and a top sheet. I also put on this one blanket. You know the one, it's plaid and scratchy and it's got nice stitching on the outside but don't let that fool you it's Satan. But that Satan blanket keeps you warm as hell.  
Next I put my doona on top with an extra blanket folded at the end of the bed, couldn't be too careful. I didn't need my sleeping bag so I tossed it in the back of my Jeep again and grabbed the bag of my clothes. I left everything else in my jeep for now and yawned. I spotted Glen who was coming out of his tent looking very cheery.

I went over to talk to him for a while as I didn't have much else to do for the late afternoon. We got to talking and he mentioned he was thinking about going on a run into Atlanta in a few days when everything died down. I smacked him on the head and immediately called him an idiot.

"Can I come with you?" I asked after whacking him.

"After you just smacked me?" He looked at me like I was crazy. He paused for a moment. "Yeah alright." He said with a smile.

We laughed and discussed clearing it with Shane who had ended up the group leader. I yawned again and said my goodbyes to Glen, saying I was headed to my tent for a lie down. I closed the fly screen and took my boots off, laying down and dropping off almost immediately. I must have been more tired than I thought.

* * *

"Anyone seen CB girl?" Morales asked, having been instructed to gather everyone to the evening meal.

"She told me a few hours ago she was going for a lie down in her tent." Glen replied.

"Shane would you go check on her please?" Lori asked, her hands full with cooking and looking after Carl.

I looked at her for a moment. Me? Addie smacked me first chance she got and has been off with me all day, and Lori wants me to go wake her up? What's the phrase? Let sleeping dogs lie. Yeah the day I wake up an irritable construction worker whom I happen to know carries three guns and a spiky baseball bat around with her at all times. Fuck that.

"Sure." I replied after receiving a pointed look for my hesitation. I am a man, I am not afraid of 5ft 4" Addison West. Or Lori Grimes for that matter. Shane Walsh takes orders from nobody.

I walked up to her tent and hollered. "Yo, sleeping beauty, you in there?" I went to the door of the tent to see her sleeping form. I'd only seen her like this two other times and she looked just as beautiful as ever. I unzipped the fly screen and stepped quietly over to her.

"What is it Shane?" She asked before I could shake her awake. At least I thought I was quiet.

"Lori says dinner's ready." I replied quickly. She yawned and nodded, sitting up and then taking my hand to help her up. She had such small hands.


	11. Grumpy Cop

"Hey Addison, the girls and I are headed down to the quarry to do some laundry, you want to come with?" Andrea voice came through the thin, canvas walls of the tent. I groaned and rolled over, shielding my eyes from the sun with one of my blankets.

"Come on Sleepin' Beauty, up an at 'em." Shane called from beside her somewhere.

"No." I mumbled, reluctant to get out of bed. The heat normally would have bothered most but I was toasty and warm and found the sun quite nice, when it wasn't shining in my eyes at least.

I heard the tent doors unzipping and crawled further under the blankets. Shane would have to carry my cold, dead corpse from this bed if he wanted me up. Well actually it'd be my toasty, warm corpse in this weather. He flopped down beside me on the bed and started poking and prodding me with his index finger while I struggled and squirmed away.

"You are Satan." I mumbled. Seemingly content with letting Shane deal with me, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, that Andrea had left.

"Come on baby, up you get." He tried tugging the blanket but only managed to uncover my head. He used that to his advantage the asshole. He wiggled closer and started placing light kisses all over my face and neck.

"You're not being cute, you're really annoying." I replied.

"Is that right?" He said before pinning me down and placing a deep and passionate kiss on my dry, cracked lips. I grunted in annoyance, but began to kiss him back. He stopped pinning me down as hard and I sat up, resting my hands on his shoulders as his arms snaked under mine. He kissed me a little longer before he smirked and pulled me out from under the blankets and on top of the sheets.

"Asshole." I said when he stopped kissing me. He smirked and ran his hands over my body.

"You do actually need to get up, even if you don't do laundry. I've got some jobs you can do." My skin was so sensitive to his touch, wherever his skin brushed mine he left a trail of goosebumps.

"I don't do laundry." I replied. "But I can hep you out with other stuff." I pulled his face to mine. "If you kiss me some more."

He connected out lips and ran his tongue along my bottom lip, biting it when I refused his entry. His tongue trailed the inside of my mouth while my hands ran along his toned body. He rolled us over and he laid down on his back while I sat in his lap, gripping his shoulders. We were rubbing against each other and he pulled us apart.

"We have to stop." he started. "We can't get carried away here, not with all these people around."

I nodded in understanding. In truth I'm not sure I was kissing him that long anyway. I got off of him and went over to the bag with my clothes. I pulled my shirt over my head, letting my breasts roam free until I put on a fresh bra and t-shirt. I tugged off my pj shorts and pulled on a pair of jean shorts. I knew fine Shane was watching me.  
When I was done I turned to face him and bent down to pull on my boots. I strapped on my harness and holsters, tucking my Smith and Weston into the back of my shorts. Shane might have said something, that is, if he didn't already know that my gun carrying was common practice even before the world ended.

"So, what needs doing today?" I asked making my bed.

"Well there's the laundry which you already turned down, gathering firewood, or you can help put up a fence around the perimeter." He replied.

"Shane you know fine my job before this was in construction. Of course I'm going to go with the fence." I gave him a look which said, how dumb are you.

"Good, you'll be working with the Dixons." He smirked, stepping out of the tent.

"Damn it." I spat as I followed him outside.

"Ain't no picnic for us neither." Daryl replied, looking me up and down with a glare.

"Come on brother, it'll be nice havin' some eye candy to hold the wire." Merle looking me up and down as his brother did, but with a different look upon his face.

"Lord give me strength." I muttered as I walked up to my jeep, pulling out some extra wire, a staple gun and my bat. "You assholes need anything?"

Daryl came over and started grabbing supplies to help put up the fence and grabbed a hold of the large steel axe I had tucked away in the trunk. Merle on the other hand just stood around being useless, most likely staring at my ass. I was really annoyed Shane had managed to trick me into this. As much as I argued with Daryl he wasn't so bad. It was murdering Merle I was worried about.

"See you're working together already." Shane smirked, he was leaning on the front of his car next to Glenn.

"Shane I will have revenge, I wouldn't be smirking." I growled causing Glenn to laugh.

"Come on princess, let's go." Merle ordered and I glared at him. I don't take orders from rednecks. 

* * *

"The trees are too sparse in this area, we're gonna need to make some posts to attach the wire too or it won't hold up. I mean if we pull it tight it'll stay up but it won't keep much out." I explained as we moved along to the next edge of the perimeter we were setting up. Merle was looking at me like he was waiting for a point to contradict me or argue but seemed to be surprised at how much of what I said was agreeable.

"We can fill the holes in with dirt for now and I'll talk to Shane later about making a run to get some cement and other things to make the fence more secure and permanent. Atlanta is closer but it's still a no go zone so we might have to make a run to King County or one of the surrounding towns." I explained thinking about Glenn saying yesterday we'd go on a run together. "We should be able to find what we're looking for no problem though, I can't imagine concrete being very high on looters shopping lists." I said with a laugh.

"Girl how you know so much 'bout fences 'n stuff?" Merle asked looking me over as if searching my person would give him the answers he wanted.

"I work in construction. I started in day labor and often got sent out to farms to help out with fencing when there was no jobs on in town." I explained. "So, which one of you two is going to take the axe and start cutting down that tree over there?" I pointed to one of the straighter and fairly solid trees. I would have done it myself but I didn't want to push it now I knew for sure that I was knocked up.

There was no conversation between the two, instead Daryl just headed off to the tree I had pointed to and started hacking away at it. Without his shirt sleeves I had a clear view of his muscles flexing, his body shining with sweat. I stopped watching him once I was satisfied he was doing it right and wasn't going to get us killed by a falling tree.

I went back to camp to retrieve a shovel and it tossed Merle after I had marked out the areas I wanted him to dig in. "They'll only need to be a few feet deep." I told him, going over to put holes in more in cans that we were going to hang on the fence to make noise if a walker ran into them.

"Whatever you say princess." Merle replied before getting to work digging.

I ignored him, pushing the nail I was holding through the side of the can. I yanked it out again and repeated the process with all the other cans, stacking them up in a pile next to the tree where the wire ended. I went back to camp again to get us some water. I may not have liked the Dixons but that didn't mean I wanted them to dehydrate. Plus they were doing the work I would be doing if they weren't here. So really it was beneficial to me that they were here.

"Here." I said from behind Daryl who had moved on from chopping down the tree and was now chopping it into posts. He worked up a rhythm by the time I had come back as was breathing heavily. He stopped while I stood behind him and turned around. He took the water reluctantly, almost expecting it to be poisoned or something.

"It's totally kosher, don't worry. I wouldn't poison you when you doing all the work for me." I laughed awkwardly.

He nodded at me and took the water. "Thanks." He said finally after taking a sip.

"No worries mate." I walked off to hand Merle some water who leaned over and tried to smack me on the ass when I turned around. I stepped out of the way at the last minute and he went face first into the ground. I saw Daryl smirk and try not to snort as he did.

* * *

"Addison I just don't think it's a good idea goin' a run right now." Shane replied rattling me further.

"Shane it's King County not Atlanta, I've been in and out before and that was while the shit hit the fan. I'm a grown ass woman and I'm capable of doing it. It's in and out, half day trip max. We leave first thing we'll be back just after lunch. Trust me, I have a watch." I argued, throwing in some humor at the end. It fell on deaf ears then.

"No Addie. It's too dangerous." Shane ignored my pleas.

"It'll be beneficial for the security of the camp, plus we can make a pharmacy run and stock up on supplies for everyone." I said in an attempt to persuade him. "Look," I sighed. "Would it make you feel better if I took someone with me. A _boy_ perhaps."

He looked at me like I hadn't just played that card. "Addison it's not because you're a woman that I don't think you should go. It's because it's dangerous for _anyone_ to go." he justified.

"So you think I shouldn't go, and it's dangerous for any _one_ to go," I started, he relaxed a little, thinking he'd managed to persuade him. "But, you never explicetly said I can't go and it's not to dangerous if I take any _people_ which is more than one." He tensed up again and I grinned a stupid grin at him.

"We can't spare the fuel Addison." He ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

I whistled at him. "Follow me." I said gesturing to him and walking off to my car. I pulled open the back doors and pulled out the two, large, plastic canisters. My muscles visibly flexing and straining. "Can we spare the fuel now?" I smirked.

He sighed at me. "You take people with you. You find the bodies and run it by me and then I'll consider it." He shook his head and stalked off.

"So," Glenn popped up. "Can we go?" He grinned at me and lent against the car.

"He wants more people to go with us. Seems to think I'm not tough enough on my own." I sighed and he gave me a sympathetic look.

"Maybe we could ask T-Dog or Morales." He suggested.

"So you're probably not going to like it." I started.

"But.." He prodded, actually poking me, waiting for my counter suggestion.

"What about we ask Dixon, the younger one. Daryl." I finished, scratching the back of my sweaty neck.

"You're right, I don't like it." He replied frowning at me. "Plus he probably won't come if Merle doesn't and we would be better off without that asshole."

"I was working with him all day, he's not that bad. We could use him if we went. He's strong and quiet, doesn't bitch much either." I justified.

Glenn looked at me and sighed, knowing I wouldn't let up. "Fine." He replied reluctantly. "Ask him."

I grinned at him and walked off, headed for the last place I saw the brothers. When I got to the campfire I saw the younger of the two brothers by himself. He was glaring off into the distance and sharpening arrows. "Yo Robin Hood." I said as I sat across from him'

He shot me a glare, apparently not appreciating the nickname. "What'd you want?"

"So, I mentioned goin' on a run earlier and I cleared it with Shane, on the condition that me and my girly ass took some big, tough, manly men because I'm not strong enough and I need protection." I responded, jutting out my upper lip for added effect.

"'An what exactly are you wantin' me to do 'bout it?" Came his irked reply.

"Come with?" I shot him a pleading look.

"No." He got up from the fire and turned to walk away.

"Okay, I tried. Shame too, now we'll never get that fence put up and the camp will fall into ruins. But that's okay, if you really don't want to come that's your decision." I also got up, laying it on thick.

I could see him rolling his eyes and as I turned, took a few steps and looked back, he shot me a look that said _'don't you make me regret this'._ "Fine." He grumbled, storming off down to the quarry and probably to go and kick the crap out of something. When he was gone I continued on my path towards the surly police officer to let him know I had complied with his requests.

"Hey officer cranky pants!"I hollered from behind the morose man of the law. He turned looking significantly more waspish than he had been before. "I got Daryl and Glenn to come with on the raid tomorrow." I grinned proudly up at him.

He sighed, realizing it was no use to try and fight with me on this. "Fine. You can go."


	12. Raiding the Quarry

"And remember, be back before 1500 hours." Shane reminded me yet again.

"Trust me Forrest Grump, I'll be back by 3. I'll have to return your hat." I tugged the brown baseball cap that had Deputy adorned on the front in yellow off of his big ass head. Already sick of my antics this morning he decided it was better to let my hat thievery go in order to maintain his sanity.

I shoved his hat on over my blonde hair and tugged my ponytail out the gap in the back. I checked my pistols one last time before I picked up my iconic spiky bat and hung a bright blue crowbar off my belt. Habitually unlocking the Wrangler's doors I hopped into the driver's seat and waited for my two passengers to climb inside. My car had been cleared of all excess supplies and now only the bare necessities remained. Glenn hopped inside the passenger side which left the whole backseat to Daryl and his crossbow. I reversed the whole way from my parking spot, up the road and onto the highway as I was too lazy to actually make the three point turn it would take to drive the correct way. That and it showed I was a badass when it came to driving.

Pulling out backwards onto the now cleared section of the highway, I switched gears and drove forward at speed towards King County. Glancing into the back I noted that although both Glenn and I were wearing our seat belts Daryl was not. He had his arms stretched out across the whole backseat, perched in the middle and had his trusty crossbow on his left side. I noticed the crossbow, however, was strapped in. At least I knew where his priorities were at.

Halfway down the highway the quiet was eating away at me and I was itching to turn on some music, even though I knew it would be a bad idea; they might not like my music taste. Well, that and it could attract hoards of the infected to our location and they would likely rip the flesh from our bodies and eat us alive. I turned to Glenn and shot him a look of desperation, which he didn't notice and just grinned back at me.

"Will someone please just say something?!" I broke the silence with my agony.

"Gees, you act like you haven't heard someone speak in weeks." Glenn laughed.

"Yeah well, I'd rather hear the irritating drawl of Daryl if it meant I wasn't left alone with my thoughts. Wondering when which corner we'll turn only to meet walls of the infected. When we're going to get to cocky and end up dead. When we're going to make the wrong call. I need to do this but that doesn't mean I'm not bricking it at the idea of something going wrong." I explained.

Daryl looked pissed when I started speaking but then his face changed to thoughtful and almost calculated. Facial expressions that surprised me a fair bit, considering they were sported by the younger Dixon brother. "Ya don' need ta be worryin'. Ya made it this far." Daryl said after a moment and we feel back into silence.

Well he was right, I have made it to day 4 of the apocalypse so far. That's something. I guess. I sighed fairly contently as I rolled my shoulders and made the turn into King County. We spotted a lone member of the infected and I sped up heading straight for it.

"Addie what the hell are you doing?!" Glen screamed from the passenger seat, holding the Jesus bar for dear life and bracing himself in his chair.

"Well if this was 4 days ago it'd be a hit 'n' run and I'd be getting paid." I replied, not slowing down and hitting the zombie like thing at full speed, sending it flying into a road sign, top half of it's skull making contact and shooting off. "Now I'm just on clean up."

Even Daryl was a little shocked in the back seat. I did slow down then, heading for the hardware store as it was closer to us than the pharmacy and we wouldn't have to double back. We hopped out of the car and Daryl was lucky I remembered to take the child lock off the doors before he hopped in this morning. When we managed to get inside, sneaking past a pocket of infected, Daryl suggested if split up we could cover more ground.

"Split the party?" I all but screamed in a hushed voice. "Are you _nuts!?_ "

"Yeah Daryl, don't split the party." Glenn chuckled.

Eventually we settled for Daryl going off by himself to the tool area to get more axes and such while Glenn went to get a trolley to help us load up. This leaving me to stand helplessly on top of one of the high shelves I had scaled to get a better view of the store and keep out of reach of any opportunistic zombie. When Glen returned I shimmied down the shelving and to the floor again while we wheeled our way to the concrete section.

We grabbed several bags of cement and a few bags of gravel to mix in. Daryl met us in the isle, almost getting his brains blown out by me as he carried two more shovels and a pickaxe. "Didn't find no axes though." He commented, sticking his new equipment in the trolley beside the cement. We made a detour the power tools section when I had a brainwave and practically dragged the two men accompanying me there myself.

Nail guns. Silent weapons and effective weapons. Well, more silent than guns and it was fairly easy to get something to load them with. Upon airing my idea with Glenn and Daryl they set to work, Daryl going off to stock up on nails while Glenn and I got to work with grabbing as many gas canisters for them as we could get out hands on. We grabbed about 6 nail guns and tossed them in as well. I was fairly proud of my little brainwave and it showed as I rode inside the trolley as Glenn wheeled us out to the parking lot, Daryl spending most of the trip unimpressed.

Outside Daryl loaded the jeep with our haul while Glen and I took the left and right respectively. He attacked any close by Z with the metallic baseball bat I'd lent him while I took out whatever came close, swinging with my own bat as it worked better than the crowbar. Their skulls were still fairly hard so it was more difficult to take them out. I figured the longer they were dead the softer their flesh and bones would be and I could beat them less with my spiky bat.

Satisfied with the work we were doing Daryl climbed into the back seat and Glenn and I dived into the car, me in the passenger seat this time and him driving. I handed him the keys and directed him to the pharmacy off the main street. Glenn did ask why we didn't try the hospital but I explained that Shane said last he was there it was overrun.

Glenn reverse parked, back of the jeep parallel with the front of the store and we hopped out. We had to take out more walkers upon exiting but by now we were getting used to it, numb to it. We had to use my crowbar to pry open the security gate that was pulled across and locked in place in front of the automatic doors. Glenn was about to do the same with the automatic doors before Daryl stopped us. "Wait a minute," He held us back. "This is better." he pulled out some small tools and one of my hair pins and picked the lock to the doors. We tugged them open and slipped inside before shutting them behind us.

Daryl jumped the counter and started grabbing as much of the heavy duty stuff as possible while Glenn and I split up, him suggesting I take the feminine hygiene section which gave me a good laugh. He all but blushed like a schoolboy mentioning it. Didn't he grow up with sisters? I stuck my arm in the shelf and held the bag open with the other, making a clean sweep of the whole thing. While nobody was looking I grabbed a few bottles of prenatal vitamins and slipped them into some lesser known pockets of the bag I was carrying. Glen awkwardly tried to shove several boxes of condoms into the bag nonchalantly which gave me a good laugh at his failure.

I tucked them in deeper as I watched him turn scarlet and went over to the cold and flu area stuffing what I could in there along with a crap tonne of Tylenol and Advil. We stuffed in gauze, bandaging and first aid supplies and by the time we were done Daryl returned with his own bag, stuffed to the brim. This should keep us fairly well stocked for a while, even though there wasn't much in the store for us to pick through. Daryl opened up the doors for us while we tossed the bags into the jeep, him shutting up shop, jamming the security gate closed again. All in all it was a fairly successful trip. No casualties.

I got back into the driver's seat and drove us home, thankful everything turned out okay and actually happy that we'd brought Daryl along. With any luck he might become a new friend alongside Glenn.

* * *

"Back before three as promised." I called out the window to the rather anxious looking Shane who was stood on top of one of the logs we usually sat on to eat. Everyone else was sat round the campfire eating lunch. While everyone hopped out of the jeep I slipped back and grabbed the vitamins, slipping them into my pockets.

"And you were worried." I teased before making my excuses and slipping back to my tent to hide the vitamins. I came back and Carl had tackled me in a bear hug.

"I'm glad you're back Addie." He said holding him tight.

"I'm glad to be back, little buddy." I ruffled his hair and then took the plate Lori handed me.

"Thanks." I breathed, sending her a grateful glance. I sat down beside him as he was sat next to his new friend Sophia. Shane seemed to visibly relax and sit down beside me, starting his own plate of food. "Oh, I had a brainwave earlier." I said suddenly, breaking the semi peaceful air around the campsite.

"What?" Shane asked between mouthfuls.

"Nail guns." I replied. "I can't believe I spent half my life on construction sites and didn't think of this earlier."

Shane nodded, it was a good idea. Ammo was much easier to come by, easier to learn to use, aim and fire. Anyone could use them and anyone can get their hands on them. They were as common and baseball bats or crowbars. Another good thing to use would be a shovel but they were a bit of an awkward shape to have everyone carrying around.

After lunch Merle and I went back to the fence line to continue the day before's work, him carrying a pale of water to mix with the cement and gravel. We tugged out the posts one by one and scooped the dirt out of the hole, replacing the post and shoveling in mixed cement. We left in order for the cement to set and would return the next day to finish the last touches of the fence.

Every time I looked at Merle he looked like he was going to say something but was debating whether or not to. Almost like he thought I was going to smack him one if he was an ass. It's true though, I would smack him if he was an ass. I'd smack him hard. He followed behind me back to camp where I ditched him in favor of the tents. At least there I was free from his almost speaking.

A little later I was approached by Carl. Asking if I'd take him and Sophia down to the quarry to swim. It was a hot one today and I understood why they'd want to. I said I'd take them if it was okay with Lori and Sophia's mother Carol. I walked with him along to the campfire where I found Lori reading a book from Dale's RV and Carol washing the dishes in some soapy water.

"So," I started, getting the two mothers' attention. "Carl asked me to take him and Sophia swimming in the quarry. I'm okay with this, but I said I'd only do it if it was okay with you two."

Lori seemed to think about it for a minute, weighing up the pros and cons whereas Carol looked to Lori and waited for her to make her decision. "Well it's okay with me if it's okay with Carol." Lori said finally. "Make sure he doesn't swim out too far."

"I will." I nodded and then looked to Carol. "How about you, what do you think?" She looked a little shocked that I'd asked her what she thought, and I wasn't surprised, with a drill sergeant like Ed for a husband you stop making your own decisions.

"Well I guess if it's okay with Lori then it's okay with me." She responded after thinking on it a little more.

"Great, I'll go tell them I got the go ahead and then get changed. We'll meet back here before we go down." I replied with a big encouraging grin directed at Carol. I headed back to my tent where the anklebiters had gathered and told them the good news. They let out a cheer and headed off to grab their togs.

I changed as well and grabbed towels for the three of us, heading to the glove box of my car to grab some sunscreen. I met the tykes back at the campfire and started rubbing down Carl while Carol rounded on Sophia, covering her from head to toe. When Lori came back from wherever it was she went - presumably the bathroom - she took over on Carl so I could start rubbing sunblock on myself.

As I was applying the cream to my shoulders an irritating whistle sounded through the camp. Merle. Both him and Daryl were looking me up and down as were some of the other males in the camp. I paid them no mind and wasn't surprised when the only decent one, Glenn, came over to help me with my back. While he did I noticed Shane sending irritated looks my way.

"You guys heading down to the quarry?" He asked, probably already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, the kids wanted a dip." I replied trying to rub some on my face without loosing my eyes. Or heaven forbid I accidentally got some in my mouth.

"Oh cool, want me to tag along?" He asked, finishing up on my back.

"Sure if you don't mind. I'd love the company." He jetted off into the distance and returned a few moments later changed and ready to go with a towel, baseball cap removed. I rubbed his back with suntan lotion and he quickly covered himself, so he didn't slow us down. Carl and Sophia shot me anxious glances, waiting impatiently to go down.

"Alright, alright you two we're ready." I laughed watching them tear off for the quarry. I walked down after them with Glenn in tow, arriving just a few moments later, watching them freeze at the water's edge. "What's the matter? Not scared of a little cold water are we?" I teased, grabbing Carl and carrying him out into the water with me, dropping him in water that just reached his neck if he stood up. He let out delighted screams and I noticed by the sequels behind me that Glenn had done the same.

I laughed watching Carl's half-assed attempt at a grumpy face, rise slowly out of the water and I shrieked as he squirted water in my face. I started running through the water as I chased after him, all the way back to shore as Glenn and Sophia waded in slowly behind us. I grabbed Carl and tossed him back in the water with a splash and he let out a cry of laughter as I soaked myself in the process. I got the water out of my eyes and Glenn sent a torrent of water over in my direction, soaking me again. I swam towards him and splashed him right back. We got into an all out out war with everyone not stopping till we'd swallowed more water than there was in the quarry.

The sun was lower in the sky now and the kids were getting tired. Glenn and I waded out of the water again, practically dragging the kiddies along with us. I wrapped Sophia in a towel drying her off a little before wrapping myself in a towel. Scrubbing Carl dry while he tried to shake his hair like a wet dog. I watched them trudge back up the slope as as I followed behind them also tired and practically leaning on Glenn.

"I forgot how tiring this could be." I sighed contently as we headed back up to the campfire. I yawned and rubbed my face. "I am so tired man."

"Ugh." Glenn groaned. "Tell me about it. I swear I'm going to pass out any minute."

We reached the campfire just as Lori and Carol were talking their kids off to go and get changed, ready for dinner which would be ready soon. I yawned again and sat by the fire, leaning on Glenn as I tried not to fall asleep before I ate. I knew if I did I'd be starving the next morning thanks to all the swimming. Shane was sitting by the fire across from his and I noticed his harsh glare yet again. I wondered what the hell his problem was but then I reminded myself I didn't care.

"I think I'm going to get changed into my pajamas before dinner so I can go to bed straight after. I am so wrecked." I stood up and stumbled away, hanging up my wet towel as I went, changing into a loose t-shirt and some shorts. I tugged on a hoodie afterwards and trekked back to the fireplace in a pair of thongs. Glenn caught up with me on my way back to the fire.

"Flip flops?" He asked surprised. They weren't exactly the world's most suitable camping shoe but every Aussie has a pair.

"I can't be bothered with shoelaces." I mumbled making him laugh. We reached the fire and Andrea was handing out portions. "Thanks." I grunted, flopping down onto a log beside my tailgate.

We ate in a silence that was only punctuated by the occasional stink eye and then I turned in for the night, absolutely fucked. I was so tired I just had enough time to tug off my hoodie and climb under the covers before I was out like a light.


	13. Leaky Tents

"Why is my tent leaking?" Glenn's voice echoed across the once quiet forest.

"For fuck's sake Glenn." Another voice called from the other side of the camp. I sat up in bed, groggy and unaware of what was happening. I checked my watch and it read 3:04. I let out a groan that probably also echoed through the surrounding area. I pulled on my boots and hoodie, heading outside in to the apparent rain. I walked over to Glenn's tent to find the distressed young adult trying to scoop water out of his tent with his baseball cap. I looked at him and sighed, trying to grab anything that was still dry out of his tent and put it in mine. There wasn't much but there was at least some clothes for him in the morning.

Some of the others had also gotten up trying to help him soak up the water with towels and bucket it out. I was about to suggest that it was no use and we should give up for now and come back in the morning when an enraged voice thundered across the camp.

"What the hell is goin' on?" Shane's voice boomed in the night.

"Tent's flooded." I replied tiredly. A moment later Shane looked down at his feet and followed the trail back to his tent. Shane's socks were soaked and upon closer inspection I noticed his tent was also filling up with water.

"Glen, this is useless in the dark. Let's leave it till morning. You can sleep in my tent." I yawned, not wanting to do this anymore but not wanting to leave him either. Slowly everyone headed back to their tents. I lead Glenn back to mine and scurried under the covers, tugging my hoodie back off. I felt the mattress shift beside me so I knew he had made himself comfortable as well so I shut my eyes. I was about to fall back asleep when I heard a stream of irate shouts and curses from Shane. Seems nobody stayed behind to help him with his little flood.

"Shane, be quiet, some of us are trying to sleep." Lori scolded and I heard a frustrated growl in response.

I let out a quiet chuckle. They say getting pleasure out of someone else's bad luck was rude but I couldn't help but get a warm feeling spread through me when I thought about the disgruntled lawman's misfortune.

* * *

I awoke later that morning to the sound of Glenn groaning loudly beside me. He stretched and rolled from his side onto his back. Hey stifled a yawn and noticed I was also awake. "Morning." He smiled groggily at me.

"Hey." I breathed, sitting up and stretching. "I managed to save some of your clothes last night. We should eat some breakfast and see about cleaning up your tent." He nodded and got up to pull on his jeans. I glanced down to notice that although he was quite thin he was also quite toned. Getting up I started getting dressed into some jean shorts and a tank top.

"Oh god." I heard him say from behind me and I turned to face him.

"What is it?" I asked, my shorts on and my tank top halfway up my forearms.

"Nothing." He went crimson. I smirked.

"What's the matter Glen, never seen this much of a girl before?" I asked laughing and pulling the tank top over my head, covering my lacy red bra. He stuttered out some reply and stumbled backwards. "Chill out Glen, it's fine." I left the tent and he followed awkwardly behind me.

We went out to the campfire where most of the group had already gathered. I heard a car door shut behind me and I turned to see Shane crankily walking towards us. "Wow, you look awful." I said looking at how tired and pissed off he looked.

"Thanks Addie." He growled sitting down and shoveling cereal into his mouth.

He probably hadn't gotten much sleep last night after his tent flooded and him being forced to take up residency in a cramped car. I felt a little bad about not helping him, so I decided to check out his tent when I'm done helping Glenn's with his.

"I'm not sure what you're complaining about Shane," Andrea started. Oh this would be good. "Glenn's tent flooded too."

I saw the look of fury rise up in his eyes as she said that. Not only did he get no sleep last night but now his problems were being dismissed. This was too good. He thundered away once he'd finished wolfing down his cereal probably to start clearing out his tent. The dark clouds from last night had cleared and there was nothing but clear blue skies. Before Glenn and I went back to his tent I set to work of hanging another washing line near the fire, between two cars.

When I was done I found Glenn already at his tent, ringing out the towels and blankets from last night, hanging them on the group's washing line. With a bucket and a glass I climbed inside the canvas and started scooping water with the cup and emptying it into the bucket. When there was no water able to be picked up by the glass I ran a dry towel over the floor. I was still damp but no actually covered in water so we un-pegged it and took the poles out, ready to hang the tent as well. We took it over to the second line to air it out and I left him to hang the rest of his clothes at the group line.

I looked over to Shane who was crouching and scooping the water out with his hands, looking miserable. I stepped inside his tent and set to work, giving him a sympathetic look. He got another cup and joined me inside, working together like a team.

"Thanks Addie." He said genuinely.

"No problem." I smiled and emptied the bucket outside a little ways away from the tent. He was already un-pegging it when I returned to help him remove the poles. "Is something bothering you?" I asked after a moment. "You seem kind of pissy. Pissier than normal that is."

He shot me a look and then went back to setting aside the poles, folding the tent up into squares and taking it to hang up himself. I chased after him a moment later. I helped him hang it over the line between the two cars and stopped him from going off.

"Seriously, what's upsetting you Shane? I might be annoyed with you but that doesn't mean I don't care about you. If there's something bothering you then I want to help." I put my hands on his head and forced him to look at me. "Talk to me." I ordered.

"It's nothing." He said after a moment, not quite making eye contact.

"Shane!" I yelled. "Seriously."

"There's nothing wrong with me okay?" He said back, irritated. "You're the problem."

"Excuse me?" I looked at him now with my hands on my hips. "You wanna try that again?"

He sighed and then dragged me off to a spot by the water on top of some rocks. Running his hands through his hair he eventually turned to face me and sighed. "So are you.." He started.

"Am I?" I prodded.

"Is there something..." He stopped again. "That Glenn kid, is there something going on between you and him?" He asked finally.

I bust out laughing. I mean Glenn was nice but he reminded me more of my brother back home. Plus he's a good 4 or 5 years younger than me. "Trust me on this one Shane, there is nothing going on between me and Glenn. We're just friends."

"Oh." He replied probably feeling a little bit silly after my reaction.

"I'm not sure why it'd bother you so much anyway. We slept together a few times one night and then hung out one time after that. I mean I'd hardly call that a relationship so why be worried?" I patted his knee.

"So what was it that you wanted to tell me all those weeks ago then?" He asked. Good question Shane.

"I think we should work on our relationship before I break that one out. I mean we've been pissed at each other for days, not talking about it and acting like teenagers in high school instead of dealing with it." I explained. I wanted to make things work with him, but we were both so hard headed and in the middle of the apocalypse we needed to be damn sure we could make this work.

"What could be so bad that you can't just tell me now?" He asked, looking at me seriously.

"It's not bad." I replied. "I just don't want to get into this right now." I scratched the back of my neck. I mean I wanted to make with work without the added pressure of a baby hanging over our relationship but I couldn't help but wonder if I was doing the wrong thing keeping this from him.


	14. Keep Away

After sitting in silence with Shane for a while I headed back up the hill to see if Merle or Daryl was awake and ready to finish up the fence once and for all. The concrete should be set by now, even with the rain last night. It didn't long to put up more lines of wire with cans hanging off and staple them down to the trees and posts. We were done by lunch and headed back to the campfire. Merle spent this time talking with Ed around the other circle of logs while I sat next to Dale, the owner of the RV in an attempt at making friends with more of the people in camp.

He was quite friendly although a little old fashioned, although that didn't mean he wasn't interested to find out I was a construction worker and he was quite impressed. I found out he'd picked up Andrea and her sister Amy on the road and saved them, taking them to the refugee center in Atlanta and ending up here instead. Carol had been parked next to Lori and Shane on the highway with her family. Jim hadn't said much on his back story. He was kind enough but he didn't really say much. According to Glenn he was picked up by T-Dog or Theodore Douglas who had been picking up the elderly and taking them to church during the outbreak.

Something I'd noticed was that this group seemed to call the infected geeks. Wasn't sure why though. The only references to the word I could make were the geeks in high school or carnival geeks. It was most likely that latter because they will eat pretty much anything and the walking infected seemed to enjoy munching on body parts.

When I was done with my lunch Carol offered to do my clothing and gear when she was down at the quarry with the others doing laundry. I thanked her and in return offered to watch Sophia for her. I knew that deadbeat Ed wouldn't be watching her so I figured it would be more fun for her hanging out with me instead of watching everyone cleaning clothes.

We sat up in Dale's RV drawing until it got too hot for us inside so I rubbed her in sunscreen and took her down to the lake to paddle in the water by her mother. Carl was playing with Shane in the water already and we met up with them. I found a rugby in the back of my wrangler and managed to get them to play a girls vs boys match which turned out to be an intense game of keep away. Shane got a hold of it an ran out to the deeper water to gain an advantage as he was the tallest out of all the players which was when I ducked under the water and swam up behind him, climbing up onto his back and stealing the ball. Swimming back to the shallows as fast as I could, running in the knee deep water along the length of the quarry. All was going well until I turned to see if he was still chasing me only to get spear tacked by Shane and I fell into the water with a huge splash. Carl took this point to grab the ball and run away from Sophia.

It was at this point that T-Dog and Amy decided to join in the fun. We kept playing our game of keep away with Amy, Carl and Sophia giggling as us as the adults wrestled each other for the ball. I got Shane in a headlock but T-Dog ran past and tossed it between him and Carl. Luckily Sophia and Amy teamed up to tackle T-Dog and steal the ball away.

We played like this for hours until Carol and Lori called the younger two players back up to camp. Then Andrea, Jacqui and the Dixon brothers joined in. That made for an interesting game and Dale, Glenn and Jim seemed to think so too and started spectating. Each member of my team seemed to be pinned down by a member of the opposing side and wasn't in a position to get hold of the ball. Glancing around I managed to spot the ball and slip past Shane, charging and tackling Merle for the ball. Once I successfully had it I tore across the quarry being chased by the whole team in order to get it back.

"Some help would be much appreciated girls." I called behind me swerving a tackle from Merle, landing him in the water. Unfortunately that had lead me straight into a trap. I ran face first into awaiting Daryl's chest, right where they wanted me. He grabbed both my arms and held me still so I couldn't regain hold of the ball while Shane snatched away the ball and tossed it to T-Dog who was waiting to catch it at the other side of the mass of bodies.

Andrea headed straight for him but he quickly tossed the ball to Merle who had been making his way over anyway. Jacqui intercepted and tossed the ball to Amy who unfortunately was taken down by Shane. I would have done something but I was still being pinned by Daryl. I managed to break free from his hold eventually and I leapt over T-Dog and into Shane's arms, landing bridal style, tossing the ball over to Andrea who ran closer to shore. Shane held me tight and I squealed, trying to wriggle out of his arms.

He laughed as I struggled but eventually let me go when the ball came near. I grabbed it just as he made a move for it and headed for the only free person, Jacqui. The Dixon brothers cornered me just as I did, Daryl grabbing me and Merle grabbing the ball from me and tossing it to Shane. Amy snatched it from him only to be blocked by T-Dog but he was stopped in his tracks by Andrea. She threw the ball straight to Jacqui again and she managed to hold onto it for quite a while until Merle and Shane teamed up to attack me from behind, Daryl from me who headed straight for her.

Amy tried to help them but was still inhibited by T-Dog. Andrea headed over to help Jacqui and was successful but had no one to pass it to. I climbed on top of Shane's shoulders and jumped off, aiming for T-Dog but I bypassed him and landed on Daryl, sending us both into the water. Andrea passed it to me and then headed to the other end of the quarry behind everyone. Now that I had the ball I passed it to Amy and moved into space, ready for when she passed it to Andrea. I caught it and was ready to pass it to Jacqui but I was intercepted by a revenge tackle from Daryl and Shane ended up catching the ball.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Lori heading down the hill towards the group of spectators. I took my chance while everyone else was distracted by her to slip past Daryl, grab the ball from Shane and run out into the deeper water, swimming around the group. Lori called out to everyone that dinner was ready and our game finished at the setting of the sun with me running towards the shore with the ball.

"Woohoo I win!" I screamed as I was chased up the hill to the camp fire. I went to change my clothes and get into some pyjamas and a hoodie as I was absolutely dripping. Most of the others would only really need to change pants or towel off a little, excluding of corse anyone I tackled into the deep.

I returned to the fire in my fluffiest hoodie and some thongs. I took my plate and sat down beside Dale and Glenn. The sun was still setting so when we finished eating we decided it was best to set up Glenn's tent at least if we didn't get Shanes done in time. They could either bunk together for one night and deal with it or I'd offer up a spot in mine.

"Shane, what are you doing?" I asked as he pulled the cover over the tent. "That's on upside down and inside out." I commented as he looked at me.

"Is it?" He asked after looking intensely at the waterproof canvas sheet. "No I'm sure it's this way."

"He helped me with the one on my tent and we put it on this way." Glenn commented.

"Well no wonder water got in if you set up your tents like this." I laughed. "Take a look at the one on my tent. It's supposed to go like that."

"I guess we probably should have read the instruction manual then." Glenn sighed.

"Son, men don't need instructions." Merle piped in from the backround.

"Apparently these men do." I laughed, putting the sheet over properly and pegging it down with the poles in. The tents were dry and Glenn's air bed was too but the bedding and sleeping bags were still damp or soaked. We'd gotten halfway through putting up Shane's tent when we realised.

I handed Glenn my sleeping bag that I didn't use and he set to work on inflating his bed again, a new pillow from me with him as his got soaked last night. "You're just going to have to bunk with me and deal with it." I said to Shane as there was nothing else we could do about his situation.

"Good, because I don't think I could put up with another night of your snoring." Glenn laughed, making light of the situation.

"My snoring is not that bad." I argued, hands on my hips.

Shane leaned over to Glenn and said "At least she admits it," laughing along with him.

"You two I swear to god," I walked off shaking my head. I tugged off my hoodie at the tent door and tucked myself under the blankets on my side of the bed. I propped myself up on one arm while I flicked through one of last year's gossip magazines that had been left in my bag. Just shows how often I use it.

Later Shane unzipped the flap and stripped down to his boxers, sliding under the blankets beside me. I closed the magazine that I couldn't really read in the dark anyway, rolling over to face him, debating whether or not to be bold. He watched me intently as I decided to make a move or not. I leaned up to his face and pressed my lips to his. He smiled as my eyes fluttered closed and he kissed me back, pulling me closer to him. He brushed my hair out of my face and pulled me up to straddle him. I pushed down on his chest as I leaned down to kiss him roughly and I wondered how far we could take this. I'd been wanting to do this again since day one and more so with all the tension between us.

Apparently further than I thought as Shane just pulled my shirt up and over my head, reaching up to grab hold of my breasts. I slid my hand up his naked chest to feel his abs, him massaging my flesh while still kissing me. I scratched lightly on his skin and he rolled us over to be on top. He was running his hands over my body at a mile a minute, my fingers trailing his back. He tugged down my shorts and I dipped my digits in the waistband of his boxers. He slid down to my waist, kissing along my hips and down my pelvis towards my tender folds. He slid his tongue up the slit sending a shiver down my spine. He ran his tongue around my entrance and then up to my sensitive nub, running circles around it with his wet muscle. He put his hand up to my mouth and I sucked on his fingers, moistening them with my saliva. He dipped two inside of me and made a scissoring motion stretching my hole. I was clutching the sheets trying not to make any noise and wake up the other campers.

This gave me cheeky memories of the retreat we did in senior year when I was in high school. We were in log cabins by the lake forest surrounding the clearing. One night David and I snuck out to the communal supply closet and he pinned me up against the shelves, holding me up with my legs locked around his waist. I'm pretty sure it was that night that John was conceived and although things went south with David, I'll never regret that night because so many beautiful things came from it.

Tonight, although similar in location was nothing like that night. Having sex with Shane was unlike anything I'd ever experienced with anyone ever before. He slid his boxers off and pushed into me, connecting our mouths to silence my screams. Having done this with me before he knew I was rather loud if he touched me in just the right way. And although he enjoyed pissing off his neighbours back home, he had no desire to wake up the campers around them.

* * *

Lori Grimes was walking back to camp after having been to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The moonlight made her pale skin glow and sent streams of light through the gaps in the leaves and tree branches. As she was walking through the collection of tents she heard a feminine grunt from Addison's tent and cast a glance behind her in the direction of the noise. She could see two moving figures and shook her head. It seemed she and Shane had decided the best way to spend their time together by creating the beast with two backs. She smiled a little and headed back to her tent, wondering if it was Shane that got her so worked up before Rick got shot.

She felt a pang in her chest when she thought of her late husband, her light mood deflating as she unzipped her tent and climbed into bed beside her young son. 

* * *

"Keep going." I panted. "Faster." Shane quickened his pace and ploughed in harder as he did so, making sure he hit the sweet spot he'd discovered a few weeks before. He connected our lips again just as I was about to make an inhuman scream. It was incredible - and annoying - how he was able to undo me like this. I reached up to grab his back, pulling him closer to my chest and rolling my hips up against his. I dug my fingernails into his skin, ripping at the flesh making him moan into my mouth. I locked my legs around his waist and he held my hips, guiding himself into me making sure to go harder and faster still. The knot in my stomach was tightening and it was only a matter of time before it and I came undone. He broke apart our mouths and lay feather light kisses down my neck, nipping at the flesh of my breasts. He sucked on my perked nipples one at a time, giving them each the attention they deserved. When he started rubbing circles on my clit with his thumb I knew it was all over and bit into his shoulder to suppress my moaning and groaning.

This turned him on further and he got a little sloppy, giving in to the pleasure. My walls tightened around his member and he let out a moan of his own. I released his shoulder from my bite and set free a groan, connecting our lips again, desperately kissing him until my walls tightened around him fully and my legs started to shake. I let out a whimper and several mewls which were muffled by his mouth.

I felt his salty seed spill into me at about the same time I released and arched my back as I did so. My body relaxed and he pulled out of me, slumping down beside me on the air mattress. I sighed contently and felt him pull me up against him, wrapping his arms tightly around me and placing a kiss on my shoulder as we snuggled up with each other.


	15. Europop

It'd been a few weeks since the girls vs boys game of keep away in the quarry and Shane's tent never did finish getting put back up. In fact it was now packed up and stored away in the back of my jeep. Glenn and I had done several more supply runs, Shane getting slightly less nervous each time I went and returned without incident. My morning sickness had started and hit me like a truck. I was still trying to find new and inventive ways to cover it up but as far as I'm aware nobody knows anything. And if they suspect anything they've kept quiet about it. One month into the apocalypse and I was about two months pregnant, luckily not showing as I kept having to take the kids down to the quarry to swim.

I'd just finished retching in a bush when Dale walked past, asking if I was alright. I wiped my mouth and swept my hair out of my face. I turned to greet him and gave him a polite smile.

"Nothing to worry about Dale, I just swallowed a bug." I explained, hoping it was a believable lie. Apparently it was as he walked me back to the fireplace with a related anecdote.

"You know I once knew a man who owned a motorbike, used to have one of those bucket helmets, cheering at the top of his lungs every time he rode past. He was always inhaling bugs, including a bee one time. His throat started to swell up and I took him to hospital in my old wagon." He laughed. "I got a cheeky little laugh when I saw him the next day with a new helmet, one of those ones with the visors to shield him from the bugs. We didn't wake up to him yelling every morning anymore."

Dale is weird. Anyway I'm just glad my story was believable. I was sticking mainly to cereal these days as whenever we did come across powdered eggs the smell made me gag and want to puke. I was up before Shane this morning as I had been for a while now, either my biological clock was reset to the same as nature thanks to the camping or it was the pregnancy getting me up at sunrise to puke my guts up each morning.

I was sitting by the low fire eating my cereal when Shane made his way to the land of the living, sitting beside me after he ruffled Carl's hair. "Hey how come you're always up before me these days? You used to sleep until noon." Shane commented between munches.

"I thinks it's something about camping. It always used to be the same when I went with my brother as a kid. Something about the fresh air and early nights." I replied. It was true, this is very much like my childhood.

"You had a brother?" Carl asked suddenly paying attention.

"Yep." I smiled at him.

"What was it like?" He came over to sit by me.

"A real pain." I laughed.

"Why?"

"Well boys are smelly." I replied earning a smile from Lori and calls of protest from Shane and the newly arrived Glenn. "No, actually my brother and I got along really well. Even after we got split up and I think that's part of the reason we were separated." I explained thinking about how much trouble we used to get into.

"Separated?" Shane asked, also interest in the story.

"Yeah, well when I was a kid my brother and I used to get into all kinds of trouble. One day we just went to far and my parents had had enough. They sent us away in order to straighten us out. Rob to military school and me to live with my grandparents. I'm fairly sure he got the better deal on that one." I laughed. "Anyway after school he moved over here and we got up to some trouble before he enlisted and spent most of his time up at the base in Fort Benning."

"How come you don't talk about him much?" Glenn asked, perching across from us.

"Because I have no idea what happened to him. He could be anywhere now and I want to track him down but unfortunately it's not a priority right now. Even if I want it to be." I sighed, looking down at my soggy cereal.

"We'll get there, babe, we'll get there." Shane patted my knee and gave it a squeeze. Everyone cleared out while I finished what was left of my cereal. When I was done, I was approached by Carol, timidly informing me that the ladies of the group were running low on monthlies. I knew that us women couldn't help it but it was rather annoying that I had just gone out and cleared a whole chemist of feminine hygiene products only to have to worry about it again now.

"That's okay, I'll find Glenn and ask him if he wants to come on a run with me." I told her, shooting her a friendly grin.

"Thanks Addison," she smiled gratefully at me.

"You can call me Addie if you like." I offered her the use of my nickname on my way away from the camp fire to let her know we were friends.

I tracked down Glenn who was rereading one of Dale's books trying to entertain himself. He was perched on the steps to Dale's RV, eyes glazed over. I sat down on top of him to annoy him. It worked and now he could no longer pretend to read the book for a fourth time.

"Would you get off me?" He asked irritatedly.

"Depends," I replied, wiggling my tail bone further into his thigh.

"On what?" he asked, trying to shove me off. I gripped tight to the doorway of the RV.

"We need to make a pharmacy run for feminine things. I reckon we could make another food run as well. Will you come with me?" I asked, not letting up on my hold of the RV.

"If it'll get you off of me then sure." I hopped out of his lap and he stood up, stretched and popped back into the RV to return Dale's book. "Although I would have come anyway."

"I know you would have, I just like to annoy you." I replied shooting him a cheeky grin. I headed towards my tent to make sure I was carrying all the necessities and take today's prenatal vitamin tablet before Shane poked his head in. I stuffed them back in my bag and exited the canvas structure.

We headed out to find Shane to inform him of our departure and he asked us to find more jerry cans and get more fuel. He was reluctant to let me go still, but he knew I always retuned okay. Plus, I knew King County like the back of my hand. Glenn jumped in shotgun of my wrangler and I blew Daryl a cheeky kiss before he rolled his eyes and stalked away. I climbed into my own seat and started the baby up. We pulled out of the quarry and headed to the gas station first, it being the closest.

* * *

"Let's do something dangerous." I looked at Glenn, shooting him a grin.

"Let's not." He replied. I ignored him and flicked on the CD player and jumped a little when Linkin Park's Blackout blared over the radio.

"Shit." I said, pressing the eject button and popping the CD out. "Go into the glove box and grab out the folder of CDs will you? Pick one and stick it on. Pick something fun."

He looked at me hesitantly and then complied, going through page after page of CDs. He finally decided on Eiffel 65's Europop album. I grinned at him excitedly and skipped straight to my favourite song to play it first. He was awkward about it first but by the time the first verse was on he was headbanging and belting out the lyrics with me.

"I wanna click, a click to your heart, a hyperlink into you." He yelled/sung.

"A sexual browser from here to the, end a news group one on one. Don't need a modem to connect to your mind," I drummed on the steering wheel while keeping an eye on the road.

"No search engine to find you. I want a click, a click to your heart. A hyperlink to go inside you. Deep down, deep down, da de da-da dow da-da, deep down, deep down da dee da-da." We rocked out until the song finished, Glenn more into it than me which was hard to believe.

"Man, I remember rocking out to that in my senior year." I laughed.

"Wait, what? I thought we were similar ages. You'd have to have graduated in the year 2000." He looked at me confused.

"Yeah, so?" I replied. Jesus I wasn't that old.

"That'd make you 28 this year." He responded.

"27, I graduated at 17." I corrected. "I'm not that much older Glenn, aren't you like 23 or 24?"

"22." He replied.

"That's only 5 years." I replied.

"Yeah but that means you finished high school before I'd left middle school." Okay so I'd pretty much had my first child before he'd graduated but that doesn't make me old. I'm just an overachiever or something. My hand reached for the centre console and I turned the volume dial down low as we got closer to the city, although it wasn't long before I had to turn it off completely.  
The conversation had ceased after that as it had left an awkward air about the place and we had to concentrate more as we drive further in to King County.


	16. GROCERY HELL

The stench of the dead and beginning to rot corpses gushed in through the vents of the Wrangler and I had to shut off the AC before I was reduced to a gaging mess. I'm not sure if the morning sickness added to the nausea that came with the malodour of the deceased or if the smell was just that bad but I wasn't sure how much longer I could take the reeking the poured off their moving bodies.  
I looked to my left and saw that Glenn wasn't fairing too much better and it wasn't before long that we had to grab our gear and ditch the Jeep and park it some place discreet and easy to get to.

There was a convenience store right around the corner that we decided to hit first seeing as the streets further into suburbia and further away from the centre of town were much quieter. We still had to take out members of the walking dead though, but thankfully it was much easier when there was only a few. We hurried along the streets albeit a lot more relaxed than if there were hoards about. We needed to move quickly and conserve energy at the same time.

Unfortunately there was little to be salvaged from the little corner store and we had to venture elsewhere. There weren't many Geeks in this part of town, we were lucky enough to be able to slow down for a while, but we couldn't afford to slow down too much or we'd lose too much daylight. I lead Glen to a close by Food Depot which apparently was a supermarket chain located only in the states of Georgia and North Carolina.

Glenn watched my back while I jammed the crowbar I'd been carrying in between the closed automatic doors and pried them open. It was tough. Had I been with anyone else, they probably would have done it for me. But Glenn seemed to understand that everyone needed to learn to do this, and while it was quiet, was the perfect time to. There might not always be a big strong manly man there to help me out, you see.

Once we were in we tiptoed around the probably dead and hopefully not alive corpse at the greeting station. Normally, if we were raiding a small pharmacy we would have split up so Glenn wouldn't feel so awkward around the tampax, but, given that this was a much larger store, we elected to amend the unspoken rule. I was in front of him the closer we got to the feminine hygiene section. I still couldn't believe we were going through these so quickly but then again 7 out of the 19 campers were post pubescent young women so It shouldn't have been a surprise.

I cleared the shelf and we headed out for food. Unfortunately with us constantly raiding supermarkets there was always heavy cans to carry because it was harder to find dried and dehydrated foods like MREs. Glenn and I were just finishing up for the trip when we heard banging on the front doors to the supermarket.

"Shit." He muttered under his breath, looking back to the entrance to see a swarm of the undead by the doors. He grabbed a bag and I grabbed the other running at full pelt towards the back door. We were about to shove the roller door up when we heard the moans on the other side. We backed away slowly and headed for the roof, locking the stairwell door with a set of keys we found jammed in the door.

We charged up the stairs and ducked down low once we were on the flat industrial roof. I popped my head up over the roof walls and eyed the large hoard that had seemingly formed in a matter of minutes. I crawled back towards Glenn who was leaning on an air conditioning unit.

"It's huge. The hoard spans the entire front half car park." I whispered.

"Shit." Glenn panted running his hands through his hair, holding his baseball cap in his hand. "What are we gonna do?"

"Hang on I'm going to go check the back." I replied, breathing heavily bit trying to remain calm. I looked over the edge of the roof on the other side and saw that the back door was blocked by a cluster of Geeks but it wasn't as big as the lot at the front. The loading bay door was free which was good but the exit that way was blocked by a half wall spanning the entire side of the supermarket. If we were able to lure the Geeks over to the loading bay doors somehow we could escape through the back door and run down the street for a bit until we could get to some houses for cover. Work out what to do from there.

"Glenn I've got a plan." I stated.

* * *

"Do cell towers use electricity?" I asked Glenn as we grabbed some cans of spray paint we found and wrote, 'Dead inside' on the door from inside the supermarket to the back room and loading area. We'd gone back downstairs while the supermarket was still free of Geeks. We went in and locked it behind us, heading over to the roller doors.

"They do but I'm pretty sure they have backup generators and batteries. That's why we can still use our phones when the power goes out." Glenn explained while we gathered all our supplies and put them by the back door. The roller door to my right rattled as a geek banged into it and we head ungodly moans coming from the other side. We'd grabbed some backpacks earlier and stuffed as much as we could inside them so if we had to ditch the duffles we still had some supplies.

He put on his backpack and handed me mine. I strapped it to my body and picked up my duffle. I stood by the release for the roller door and looked at him.

"You ready?" He nodded at me and I pressed the button on the the loading bay stero. My first kiss by Ke$ha and 3OH3 started playing at full volume. The roller door rattled more and more as the geeks got desparate to get in. I walked over the the door release and got ready to pull the lever. I took a deep breath and took one last look at Glenn. He nodded and breathed out heavily. By the sounds of things there were no Geeks by the back door left. He held on to the doorknob and got ready.

I pulled the lever and released the roller door. The roller door slowly opened up and the dead steadily staggered in. The door had moved in what seemed like slow motion and I'd headed to the back of the loading area. I yelled and waved my hands luring the dead further into the back. Suddenly everything sped up again. I ran over to the door that Glenn had just opened and leapt through it, shutting it behind us. We ran out of the back parking lot and leaned on the side of the building recovering our breath.

"You ready?" He asked quietly.

"Hang on, I've just thought of something." I replied running back towards the roller door as the last of the Geeks were stumbling into the bay. I pulled the lever for the door again and jumped back just as it slammed shut. I sighed in relief and got out out one of the spray cans.

Glenn came back to meet me and saw what I was doing. While I sprayed 'Dead inside' on the roller door, Glenn did the same on the back door and locked it. We ran up to the side wall where we were before and checked for geeks. The noise we had made should have attracted at least a couple. I swung my iconic bat at the closest one and we ran across the 4 lane road in front of us, and straight down the street, back towards the jeep.

I was running out of breath when we neared it and I was glad we were close. But it didn't matter how close we were, we couldn't get back to it. When we neared our town another cluster of Zs was making it's way towards us. I sighed and kept running, leading Glenn down past the street we were supposed to turn onto and instead towards my old neighbourhood. We jumped the fence of the people who used to live behind me. I started to climb the trellis to get over the back fence while Glenn watched anxiously behind him.

"Ooomf." I groaned as I hit the ground on the other side of the wooden fence awkwardly. I rolled out of the way when Glenn came sailing over the top of the fence and landing in a couched position next to me. "I didn't realise you had been to ninja school Glenn."

"I didn't, you just have to be slightly more coordinated than a sloth." He replied as I got to my knees and stood up.

"Did you know sloths sometimes mistake their own arms as tree branches and accidentally fall to the ground mid swing... oh. Fuck you Glenn." I wandered over to the back door and lifted up a plant pot with the blooming california poppies and pulled the masking tape off the bottom. I put the spare key in the back door and replaced the key, entering the building with my bat up, ready to attack anything that leapt my way.

"How'd you know where the spare key was?" Glenn asked, closing the door behind him.

"I used to live here." I replied. "Back in 2009." I made my way through the kitchen and towards the living room. I shut the front door I'd kicked in last time I was here.

"How come it won't close? Someone kick it in?" Glenn inspected the door while I checked the rooms. Nothing had changed since last I was here and there were no Geeks inside.

I went to the garage next and brought back some planks of wood and a hammer and nails. I held up the planks over the front door while Glenn hammered in the nails. We moved to the front windows then, barricading ourselves inside the house, the only way in or out was the back door.


	17. Low Class Dave

"2009 huh?" Glenn was holding a black picture frame he'd gotten from the mantel piece. He turned to face me, "Who's this?" he asked handing me the frame.

I let out a small laugh. It was a framed picture of me recreating the presenting scene in the Lion King on our old couch. We had a lot of happy memories of the years. It was easy to forget them though, with all the bad things overshadowing the light. He moved on the next picture which was a framed selfie of myself and John when he was eight.

"That's me just after high school. I was eighteen. It was taken at my grandparents on our old couch, before we got this place." I explained.

"Yeah but who's the kid?" Glenn asked, he handed me the other frame. "Is this the same baby?"

"Yeah. He's my son." I replied simply.

"Woah your son? But that means you got pregnant while you were still in school."

"Yep. Senior year, during an end of year camp up at the lake." I sat down in my favourite chair by the bookcase and stretched out. I tried to get comfortable but for some reason it just didn't feel the same. I didn't fit into the chair like I used to, it felt lumpy and my groove was all messed up. It didn't smell like me anymore and I could see stains of alcohol and guacamole. I sighed and got out of the chair. It had been over a year now since I last sat in the chair, I don't know why I was expecting it to be the same.

Without another word to Glenn, I made my way into John's bedroom. The bed had stayed unmade from the morning they'd left or maybe it hadn't been made at all. I'd missed so much of my son's life since the court case that I didn't even know what he liked on his sandwiches anymore. He used to like ham and cheese that I'd cut into dinosaur shapes with cookie cutters but what if now he like PB and J with the crusts on. Or what if he didn't like sandwiches at all. Does he brush his teeth every morning and every night? Does he make his bed every day or just leave it and then climb back in at the end of the day? Does Dave read to him every night like I used to? Does he still have a favourite stuffed animal? Which one is it?

I lay lay down on his unmade bed and hugged close to myself, breathing in the old and stale scent of his no more tears shampoo. His bedside table had a thin layer of dust and his toy box was over the floor. I could see his desk had drawings all over it and his waste paper basket was filled with scrunched up paper balls.

I don't know how long I lay there but eventually Glenn came to check up on me. He sat at the foot of the bed while I lay still, unmoving and unspeaking. My breathing was steady and my gaze was miles away, I missed my son more than anything in the world and now that the world was over there was nothing I could do to get him back. All that fighting, all that saving for a lawyer was for nothing.

"So where is he now?" Glenn asked after a few moments of silence.

"With his father." I replied quietly. "I don't know if I'll ever see him again." I croaked.

"I'm sure you will. I mean what were the odds that you'd see Shane and Lori and Carl again? If that can happen you'll find your son." Glenn tried to cheer me up.

"I don't even know where to look." I started. "And when I find him, what makes you think I could just take him. Dave wouldn't let me have custody when we divorced. Now the worlds over I have no hope. All I want is to just hold him one last time. I want to hold him in my arms and never let go. He's not even 10 yet."

"Wouldn't let you have custody? I've seen you with Carl and Sophia, you're great with them how could you not have custody of your own son?" Confusion held in his voice.

"My marriage ended badly. David wasn't exactly the world's nicest guy before I married him but we were pretty happy before John was born. Even after, John made him so happy. I'm not really sure what went wrong. One day he just came home pissed and well, I guess I knew then he wasn't really the man I thought I married. Well actually for a long time I blamed myself." I explained running my hands through my hair.

"One time my brother was on leave after one of his tours and he knew, with just one look at me he knew. He knew something wasn't right and the very next day I went out with him for lunch, sporting the biggest bruise yet. Rob beat the shit out of him. John was only 6 then and I couldn't leave him, not with John being so young. I hadn't started my construction job yet and I had no way to support my son and I. I thought about moving back in with my grandparents but they were so old, I didn't want to burden them. After the incident with my brother I started to realize it wasn't my fault though and I gathered up the courage to leave him in early 2009. I lived in my apartment with John until the court case but some how Dave managed to turn it all around on me and he got full custody of our son."

"How?" Glenn asked, exasperated and confused.

"I have no idea. I was actually in the middle of an appeal before all this walking dead crap." I laughed lightly and flopped back onto the bed. "How did we get here Glenn?"

"I've asked myself the same question." Glenn replied sighing and patting my knee. "Come on. let's go through David's stuff." He dragged me up and to the master bedroom when just a few years ago I'd slept. He leapt on the bed and started pulled the drawers in the nightstand out.

"Huh, Score. I knew you were low class Dave but I didn't realise you were this skeezy." Glenn commented boredly flipping through the magazine. I smiled at his attempt to cheer me up and sat on the bed beside him, going through other drawers.

"These are not mine." I said as I pulled out a frilly pair of pink underwear.

"Maybe they're his." Glenn joked making me laugh at the thought. The next few hours were spent going through the house with a fine tooth comb making jokes along the way. By mid afternoon we'd seen and gone through everything and we were stuffing some old photo albums and some new books for the RV in the duffles.

* * *

"So how long you think we'll have to wait here for?" Glenn asked me.

"One way to find out." I replied heading towards the garage to climb up into the crawl space. The idea was to break out through a large vent in the ceiling and stand on the roof to see if the hoards were gone.

Glenn gave me a boost and I was up on the top of the shelf we stored our tools on before Glenn climbed up beside me. I shoved my way into the crawl space and he followed along behind me before he had to stop to give me space to turn around. The vent was jammed shut so I had to put the flat of my foot on it and start kicking and stomping on it until it burst open.

I swiveled back around and was able to fit my hips through the space and pull myself onto the roof. I leaned over the edge and had my arms ready to give Glenn a hand up. I was able to see a few streets ahead and see that the cluster around the jeep was still there but the crowd around the grocery store had dispersed a little. Excluding of course the ones we locked in the back.

"Pssst."

I looked at Glenn, I knew we were on the roof but there was no need to whisper. He looked at me, confused.

"Psssst."

I raised a brow at him and he asked me silent questions with his eyes.

"Pssst!" I slowly turned around when I had figured out where the offending noise was coming from and met the second story window of the neighbours place. My old neighbour Giovanni was standing at the window waving his arms. I raised my eyebrow at him and he opened the window.

"Cucciola or should I say Gattina, ah? Come quickly, this way. Bring your friend." He gestured wildly towards me, bringing me towards the window. I stepped forward, placing one foot on the first floor's guttering and let him grab my wrists and pull me in.

I landed on the other side of the window frame on my feet with a bit of a thump. I turned around to see Giovanni doing the same with Glenn and I wiped off the dust from my jeans. "What's the problem G?" I asked once Glenn was settled inside the house.

"Eh no problem Gattina, why you ask?" Giovanni replied probably lying as he walked us down to the ground floor.

"Who are you talking to old man?" Came the familiar voice of Geno, Giovanni's eldest son Gennaro.

"You should be nicer to your father Geno." I called through the house.

"Addison?" Came his confused reply. "What are you doing here?" The all American beef burger got to his feet, arms stretched wide.

"Good to see you Geno, although I wish it could have been on better circumstances." I hugged him back and then I noticed the oversized dog laying on the floor. "Oh my god."

"Yeah, Bella's seen better days." Geno replied.

"My little Cucciola got pregnant before the outbreak and now she's sick." Giovanni sat down by the normally lively German Shepard and stroked her fur.

"What exactly if wrong with her?" I asked kneeling beside the soft and fluffy creature.

"She's been so restless these past few days, and she's stopped eating and she's vomited a few times too." Geno sat back in his chair running his hands through his hair.

"She's probably whelping then." The all looked at me funny so I had to rephrase myself. "In labour."They all suddenly understood and started nodding. "How long exactly has she been pregnant for?"

"About 65 days." Geno replied.

"That's a little too long but nothing to worry about. It's different for every dog. I can't believe you guys let your dog get pregnant but didn't learn anything about whelping." I shook my head at the two.

"I'm sorry we couldn't all grow up on farms in Australia." Geno replied bitterly.

"I didn't grow up on a farm in Australia we had a dog and a couple of sheep, that was it. And plus I moved over here after only a few years of working with them." I replied stroking the dog's fur.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just tell us what to do mother superior." Geno crossed his arms.

"Okay, first let me take the dog's temperature." just as I said that Bella dropped a greyish sack gave me a look. "Never mind."

"What'd you need to take her temperature for?" Glenn asked.

"To find out when that would happen. We should have the first pup within the hour. The time now is 3:45 we should be seeing the first fairly soon. Now, Giovanni do you still have that old radio?" I asked clapping my hands together.

"I haven't used it in years." Giovanni replied rubbing the back of his neck.

"But it still works right? Do you still know how to fix it if it doesn't?" I patted the dog one more time before standing up. "Geno go and get a hot water bottle, towels and the laundry basket." Geno nodded and went off to do his thing.

"Yes, yes I can still fix it I'm not that old."


	18. Don't fight him Addison

_"Hey, is anyone there?"_

I turned around towards the the radio and sat knelt beside it.

 _"If anyone's there please respond. My name's Addison West, I'm radioing for King County, Georgia."_

"Addison I do receive you this is Officer Shane Walsh, give us your message, over." I wasn't sure this radio would transmit al, that but I was still technically an officer of the law and I was going to act accordingly.

 _"What?"_ She responded.

"It's Shane." I tried again.

 _"I'm not sure how much of this you'll receive but I'm sorry."_ **Sorry? What the hell for?** _"We got surrounded at the supermarket but we managed to escape unfortunately King County is getting swarmed by the geeks. We took refuge in a barricaded house but we're not going to make it back tonight. It's too risky."_

"But you're okay though?" I responded over the radio. "You're not injured or bit?"

 _"I'm fine for now, Glenn is too. I can't talk much longer."_

"Take care Addison, you back safe is the first priority right now. The other stuff can wait."

"Boy no it can't, we got to eat." Merle's voice boomed from behind.

"Fuck off Merle." I could hear laughing over the radio, I must have left the receiver on.

 _"Shane don't worry, I'll come back safe with Glenn and the supplies. I know you're going to worry and you'll probably never let me go on a run again but we're fine."_ She said after she finished laughing. "And Shane?"

"Yeah baby?" I replied, wondering what else she had to tell me.

 _"I love you."_ And then there was radio silence after that. Who the hell does she think she is dropping a bombshell like that and not letting me reply.

* * *

 _"Shut the hell up Merle."_ Shane shouted over the radio. Even with the crappy reception and the crackling voices I was still able to catch the redneck and the response he was met with. Although I did keep missing a few words every few sentences.

"Shane, don't worry, I'll come back saw with Glenn and the supplies. I know you're going to worry and you'll probably never let me go on a run again but we're fine." It was true, he was nervous every time I went out, after this I don't know if I'll ever be able to do it again. I mean someone else probably would which was good but I didn't want to be reduced to laundry for the rest of my life because they thought I couldn't do it.

I guess I knew it wasn't really because he thought I couldn't do it, it was because he wanted to protect me. Which was nice after the years I'd spent with David. "And Shane?"

 _"Yeah baby?"_ Came his crackling response.

"I love you." He could be cranky but he cared and that's what I need. Someone to spend the rest of the apocalypse with. And when I got home I was going to tell him, tell him that I was going to have his baby. I switched off the radio and dusted myself off, ready to help deliver those puppies.

"You done, eh, passerotta?" Giovanni asked coming back into the room as I stood up.

"Yeah G, I'm all finished." He lead me back to the living room and I asked Geno to get me some dental floss and some scissors. He would also need to have some hot water ready if we needed it. We didn't have the electricity for a heating pad so we used a hot water bottle that I placed under a few of the towels. We had the laundry basket next to Bella's bed ready for when the first pup dropped.

It wasn't long before she delivered the first one no bigger than my hand. She removed the membrane herself and the puppy started squeaking. Gently once he was breathing on his own I picked up the little pup and put him in the laundry basket where Bella could still see him. 

* * *

Four hours in and I was beginning to have to remove the membrane myself and cut the umbilical cord. I tied the dental floss and cut the cord about an inch from the tiny jelly bean of a baby. Giovanni was grossed out by the placenta each time but still removed it without a fuss and Geno provided me with disinfectant to sterilize the scissors each time and dip the end of the umbilical cord it.

I had Glenn refill the hot water bottle and after the last puppy was born during hour 6 I didn't stick around to watch the cuteness, I was too tired. I didn't do much but I think it was all the running from earlier today the wiped me out. Giovanni leant me the guest bedroom while I could hear them grilling Glenn in the next bedroom.

* * *

"So what were you doing up here anyway, huh? You haven't been staying next door or we would have known." Giovanni asked me.

"We were making a run to one of the grocery stores when we got swarmed so Addison took me back here and we'd just been going through old family albums and stuff. You know her ex husband is a real dick." I explained.

"You can say that again." Geno replied putting his feet up on the coffee table.

"I always said she'd be better off marrying my son Geno." Giovanni answered in agreeance.

"Old man you've been trying to fix us up since she moved in and she was married with a child then."

"Ay, ay get your feet off my good table. You think because the apocalypse has started that you can act like a thug? Dio mio." Giovanni shook his head at his adult son and threw his hands apart in a gesture of frustration.  
"That passerotta is a good girl, the kind your mother would have wanted for you."

"Yeah except she would have wanted her unmarried and without me splitting up her pre existing family papa. Addie and I are just friends." Geno rested his hands on the back of his head and crossed his ankles in front of him. I wondered if there was more to it than that.

* * *

"Eyy! Little bird, wake up." I rubbed my face and stumbled to the bathroom, ignoring Giovanni's antics. As if one wakeup call my morning sickness kicked in and I was throwing up my guts in the toilet. Geno was behind me holding my hair back as I was trying and failing to compose myself and stop puking.

"You okay Addie?" Geno asked while I wiped my chin.

"Yeah." I croaked in reply. "Don't tell Glenn."

"Tell Glenn what?" Glenn asked when we walked into the bedroom shirtless, soaking wet and rubbing his hair dry.

"Dad's gonna give her one of the puppies." Geno replied nonchalantly folding one of the towels.

"Why wouldn't you want to tell me that?" Glenn asked confused.

"Because I thought you wouldn't let me keep it." I tried to come up with a good lie.

"Nah I love puppies, it's Shane you've gotta worry about." I nodded and got up off the floor rinsing my mouth out with water and stretching.

"You ready to get going?" I asked going to collect my things.

"Uh actually Addie, I've got a favour to ask." Geno rubbed the back of his neck. Uh oh.

"What?" I responded, hoping it would be something small.

"Since Bella's out of action for a while and Dad, well he's old you know? Could you give me a hand on making a run and collecting supplies?" Geno asked, damn it. I so owed him for staying over but then again I delivered his puppies.

"What do you need?" I asked with a sigh.

"Addison, what are you doing, we don't owe him anything, you delivered his puppies last night!" Glenn whisper yelled when he pulled me aside.

"No, you don't have to do anything but I owe him something. They helped me out of a tough spot a few years ago and I don't think supervising the birth of some fluffy jelly beans is gonna cover it." I replied running my hands through my tangled hair.

Glenn sighed, agreeing to help me with whatever they wanted, readjusting his baseball cap. We walked back into the bathroom where everyone had been congregating and Geno told us his cousin had a warehouse for all his overflow stock for the grocery store he owned. He said if we went with him and raided it the debt would be repaid and we'd be even.

"Okay fine. Get the map, where is this warehouse?" I rolled my shoulders and leaned on the table, jacket in hand. It was still early so the air was cool, plus in geek territory it wasn't wise to go wandering around uncovered.

* * *

"You got the keys to this warehouse?" I asked holding my gun out at the ready. I didn't care if I alerted our presence to every geek in the county, we were in sketchy territory.

"No." Came his clipped, short reply. I sighed and rolled my eyes, clicking the safety back on my gun and tucking back into the back of my pants. Glenn moved forward to pick the lock on the roller door and I stood on guard, back to back with him, baseball bat at the ready. Geno took the corner of the building, ready for anything that came past.

After a few minutes of struggle, we got the roller door only to be blasted with the assaulting stench of the dead. We heard familiar growls and I jumped a few feet back,dragging Glenn with me.

"What the fuck Geno?!" I called after him and he came running over, as I dodged the swipe of a decayed hand.

"I don't know!? They shouldn't be here." I stopped in shock when he realised who they were.

I swung my spikey bat knocking one to the ground and stomped on the geek's head, ripping the bat from the skull it had stuck to. I jumped to the left and swung again as Glenn was savagely beating walkers with his crowbar. The hoard pushed us back but it was either fight or flight and weren't exactly in the position to flee. Geno stood back and watched in horror, I had a fair idea of why he could be shocked but we didn't have time.

"Geno either pick up a weapon and start smashing heads or get out of the way!" I screamed attracting the attention of a nearby geek that I had to punch in the face to knock it back a few steps before I could beat it's rotting head in.

"It's my cousins." He replied, still stationary. He was behind me now and slightly to my right and in between the assault on the dead and gone I shoved him out of my way and out of the way of the incoming geeks.

Glenn and I were panting, the hoard that never tires was taking it's toll on us as Geno just stood there. "They're gone Geno, long gone you need to pull yourself together or get out of the damned way! You can't just stand there." I called still beating the ever living fuck out of his deceased family members.

He eventually was either pulled to his senses or pulled out of the way by Glenn because he was out of the way now and I was able to put the final blow on the last few geeks on my immediate path. I did a head check and looked for Glenn, he for the most part had everything under control but there were a few sneaking up on his flank that I took care of.

When we finally did clear them all I couldn't see Geno anywhere. "Oh for fucks sake." I groaned. Glenn did the same after my exclamation and sighed.

"I don't see him on the ground anywhere, I don't think he was bit or anything." Glenn put his hands on the back of his head, resting them there with his elbows apart.

"He might have run off." I replied, he could be anywhere by now or he could be inside. "I mean he was never a chicken when I knew him but this is a completely different ball game."

"Well, I suggest we go in and see what we can scavenge anyway. Get some supplies for Giovanni and see if there's anything we can bring back for the group and then head back to the house. We should drop off the supplies and head back to the quarry while we still can." Glenn planned out what we should do while I peered around us in a last ditch attempt to find him and I nodded.

"Yeah, as sad as it is to say, he's not my responsibility. We agreed to the the job and once we do it we don't have the time or manpower to go and find him. Every minute we spend out here is a minute we're in danger." I agreed.

"Okay, you take the right side of the warehouse I'll take the left, call out if anything happens." Glenn pointed me into the building but I shook my head.

"I don't know Glenn, I know it's more time consuming to go about this together but if there's still more in there I want someone watching my back. Safety in numbers and whatnot." I explained and he agreed and we took the left side of the warehouse. It was mainly off produce and we'd made it to the middle before we found anything good.

We grabbed what we could for our Italian friends and in a separate bag we were able to squeeze in some dried food and a few of the lighter tins for our group. I couldn't carry much as I didn't want to risk pushing myself but I think Glenn might have just assumed that he was able to carry more because of the natural strength difference between men and women.

I didn't mind though, Glenn was one of those guys who never assumed you couldn't do something because you were a girl he just knew that guys and girls were different. And that unique perspective was either brought by Glenn being a complete enigma by male standards or due to him having quite a few sisters.

Glenn took the brunt of the heavier bags while we stocked up and then we closed the roller door, making the trek back to Giovanni's house. I couldn't decide if I wanted to run into Geno again along the way or when we got there, because on one hand he was scared and no one ever know how they're going to react in these kind of situations. However he did just abandon us while we were getting over run, it could have ended much worse for us than it did which pissed me off. And I think if Glenn wasn't as tired as he was he'd be pissed too.

It took a good half an hour of detouring before we got back to my old house where we slipped into the back yard, separated out all of our things from the rest and then headed over to big G's house. When we managed to get Giovanni to let us in, we discovered that Geno was already back home and looking pretty well rested for someone who back tracked all the way home and abandoned his friends. I breathed out a frustrated breath and dumped my bag down in the kitchen.

"So, you're back Geno." I commented and I received a warning glance from Glenn who would probably throttle me if I started a fight right now.

"Yeah, what took you guys so long?" He replied. I bit my tongue. _'Don't fight him Addison.'_ I thought, really wanting to beat his perfect little face in. The longer I spent with and around him the angrier I got even though it was all his fault. Seriously though if he says he thought we were right behind him or any of that BS I'm going to come back in the middle of the night and murder him.

"Well after we took care of the hoard you left us with, we had to make sure we got you the food you needed to live. Now, if you'll excuse us, Glenn and I have to be going." I said through gritted teeth, gripping tightly to my shirt fabric.

I said my goodbyes to Giovanni the innocent party in all this and gave him some tips on looking after the pups. Glenn and I headed out of my place with our bags and made the painstaking trip back to my parked jeep. We were almost there and I wasn't fully paying attention when Glenn grabbed my shoulder and dragged me back behind someone's house.

He put a finger up to his lips and then pointed to a few stray zombies wandering around to the left of the Jeep. He waved over to the right and we had to bypass the direct route to the car and had to go around a block of houses in order to get to the right side of the car.

Another 20 minutes passed and we were waiting by the corner of the house next to the parked wrangler. I unlocked the car and the lights flashed and we waited a few minutes to see if it attracted any of the undead. For the most part they seemed to check it out for only a moment but they continued their aimless wandering around the street. I guess because that was the only movement they saw they didn't think much of it and moved on. Think, haha, that's a good one. These things don't think, they're empty shells of the people they used to be and only possess the basic human instincts like hunt, feed and move. They're not smart and they don't sleep. Whatever these things are, they're not human anymore and when we get the chance, they need to put to an end.

Glenn leaned in close to my ear. "Right, I'm going to try and sneak up to the car with a few of the bags and slip into the back seat on this side. When I give you the signal I want you to do the same and jump in the front seat, and take us home." He whispered into my ear, his warm breath on my neck.

I nodded and it wasn't long before he was gone and crouching along the ground, staying low and to the line of shrubs outside people's houses. When he finally got to the car he reached up ever so slowly and lightly tugged the door open, which seemed to make the loudest noise in the world. He slid his duffle across the backseat and then tossed in his backpack, getting in and closing the door as softly as he could behind him.

The shutting of the door turned the heads of the geeks closeby and I took a careful step back, further behind the house I was shielding myself with. Glenn laid down on the backseat and the geeks wandered up to the Jeep for a bit, checking out the offending vehicle and when they found no movement they wandered away again. I gave it a few minutes before I headed out, following the path Glenn took on his way to the car. Or I would have had I not heard a growl coming from directly behind me.

Glenn signaled for me to make my way over but I was a little busy taking care of the sneaky geek grabbing at my arm. I tried to wrestle and shake him off of me but it was to no avail. I almost dropped my bat as I was shoved against the exterior wall of the house I was sheltered behind and I struggled to avoid the gnashing teeth of the snapping monster before me. I shoved the bat into it's throat trying to push it back while I grabbed my knife from my thigh, getting ready to stab at it. It snapped at me some more while I struggled and I managed eventually to stab it through the ear with a crunch.

I moved my bat and it dropped on the grass beside me, alerting Glenn as to why I was fucking around behind this house. I stood on it's neck and yanked my knife out it's skull, looking around to see if I'd grabbed the attention of any other geeks.

The dropping of the corpse seemed to attract the attention of a few of the geeks on the other side of the jeep and Glenn was waving frantically at me. I got down low and ran like hell along the shrubs, to my car, not thinking too much about the amount of noise I was making. I slipped the backpack off one shoulder when I got to the jeep and I swung it into the backseat, after I'd opened the door, almost taking out Glenn when I did so.

I leapt into the driver's seat and I locked the doors, fumbling with the keys a little before sticking them in the ignition and putting the reverse parked vehicle into drive. I don't know what I was thinking when I pulled into the driveway the way I did but it was damned convenient for sneaking into the wrangler the way we did and making a speedy getaway. I turned out onto the road and ran down the geeks in my path, knocking them over and breaking several limbs but I doubt I killed any.

"Maybe circle around a bit before we head back to make sure we ditch them all and don't lead them back to the quarry." Glenn piped up from the backseat, and I nodded breathlessly, my heart racing in my chest.

"You want to radio the group and tell them we're on our way back?" I asked after regaining my breath. Glenn climbed into the front seat, over the bags and the sloshing plastic jerry cans in the back. He set up the CB on the dash and sent out a call.

It was around half nine in the morning so the most of the group should be up and about. Glenn spoke into the receiver and asked for confirmation that anyone was listening and I relaxed significantly when Shane's familiar voice sounded over our side of the radio.


End file.
